Coming Home: The rewrite
by Sweetlilloz
Summary: Nathan and Haley haven't been back to North Carolina, let alone Tree Hill in seven years. But all that's about to change when they decide, it's time to go home. Will Tree Hill ever be the same when this dynamic couple suddenly make their appearance ? A secret kept hidden from everyone in the town will come to light and no one is safe from the aftermath it causes.
1. Prologue

**Well looks like I'm back, I was just going to replace the original story with this one, but then I thought I would leave that one up and make this a new story, so those of you who want to compare them, can do just that. One more thing before I stop bugging you, I'm going to be sticking to a weekly update unless I feel like giving you all an extra gift. So here is how it will work. If you live above the international date line. You will get it on Friday afternoon/ evening. If you live below the date line you'll get it on Saturday mornings I don't know the times cos they will change. So without further a due. Here is the rewritten Coming Home.**

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**One year ago, Savannah Georgia**

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If someone had told Nathan Scott seven years ago that he would be living in a place that wasn't Tree Hill he wouldn't have believed them, okay so maybe he had thought about it, when he was younger. But Tree Hill was home it always had been, so back then to imagine living anywhere else was, somewhat of a difficult task. However, if back then someone had told him, his uncle was well for the lack of a better term, insane he probably wouldn't have believed them either. Nathan was sure that, if someone wanted to really convince him, it would have taken some time, and well not that much evidence to prove to him that Dan Scott had somewhere along the way lost the plot entirely. Daniel L. Scott was a master manipulator, and if it hadn't been for Nathan's girlfriend- who was now his wife- he probably would never have known, just how cunning his Uncle was.

"I think we should move back to Tree Hill," he said Haley stopped what she was doing and looked up at him, he couldn't be serious, could he? After all they had gone through, after all Dan had done to keep them away, her husband wanted to move back there? As much as she loved Tree Hill - and she did love it with all her heart- she knew that moving back there could potentially be the worst decision they could ever make; not only for them but for their friends and family.

"Nathan we left Tree Hill because of your uncle, now you want to go back there? That's just insane, not to mention reckless, what would Dan do? Hell what would our families do, they don't exactly know the full story"she said putting down one of their sons t-shirts. Haley knew he was well -intentioned but they had spoken about this in the past and both had thought it was best not to tempt fate. It was the reason; Nathan had given up his lifelong dream of playing of the Charlotte Bobcats and had played for the Seattle Sea hawks instead a team that would keep them well away from North Carolina and Tree Hill, thus keeping not only their son, but the rest of their extended family safe.

"I know it's insane and reckless but think about it. Hales we could take him on and win. You and I both know that he's losing it more than usual. We've both seen that in what he's done in the past year. Running for Mayor was a way for him to appear as normal to Tree Hill. I also know you, I know that you want to go back. I see how much you miss your mum, Quinn, Brooke, Peyton and Lucas. I see it every day; you miss them terribly. Besides we owe them an explanation, your mum deserves the truth; and Mrs Edwards should know that her son didn't kill anyone. Imagine living with that for seven years, think how you would feel if you were told Jamie killed someone before killing himself. I know it's morbid but just think about it, wouldn't you want to know the truth?" Nathan asked sitting down beside Haley and taking the shirt out of her hands and taking them in his.

"Nathan, we have jobs here, our lives are here. Okay so we pick everything up and move to Tree Hill what kind of reception do, you think we will get?" She asked

"My best guess...Glacial, we hurt a lot of people, but for a good reason, one they all deserve to know. Hales, Tree Hill is our home we have both always said that; and I am sick of my Uncle thinking he can show up in the town we are living in, and we will run, because that has been all we have ever done. Personally I think it is time we make him want to run he hasn't bothered us in a while, he's too busy tormenting some other poor unfortunate soul, but he will come back to us eventually you know that as well as I do. So why don't we make the first move show him that he no longer has the upper hand, that he is no longer dealing with two teenagers scared of him. If he wants a fight, that's exactly what he's gonna get, because you and I both know as soon as our friends and family find out it was all his doing. There is going to be hell to pay, and Dan is going to be paying it in the form of pain. Besides would you want to be Dan when Brooke finds out she didn't get to plan our wedding?" Haley had to give him that; she knew he was right, that their friends and family should know them on a more personal level, other than what they had seen over the news in the last couple of years with the rise and fall of Nathan's basket ball career. She also wanted Jamie to actually know his aunts, uncles and grandparents. Her only reservation was Dan and what he would do, would he do what he had said seven years ago. Then there was what people would say, would they even believe them not to mention the fallout all this would create they would be turning the lives of everyone they cared about, upside down once again. Were they really ready for that?

"Are you prepared for the fallout Nathan? Your dad loves his brother in all his misguided ways. Keith has never seen the Dan we know. Are you ready to put your father through that?" She asked resting her head on his. Nathan knew she was right, Keith Scott love his younger brother to no end sure Dan had his faults but so did everyone was what Keith ended up saying, about anyone who was a flawed as Dan. Haley just wished her father-in-law knew how much of a master manipulator his little brother was and that he only saw the Daniel that his brother wanted him to see.

"I know, I know dad loves him. Hell the whole town loves him, for the simple fact that they don't know what we do? Admit it Hales there was once a time when we were kids that we loved him too. He has that effect on people. But do you honestly think we would be where we are today if we had stayed? Do you think we would have Jamie? Haley I never want to think about what would have happened to you if we didn't run. I can't imagine my life without you and, you and I both know that, something would have happened if we had stayed. Besides it's time Tree Hill sees the real Dan Scott, the one you and I have known for years. So yeah I am ready for the fall out and everything. But are you because this has more to do with your family; are you ready to tell them what you saw that day? "

"Honestly I don't know"


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey all, thanks for the reviews Rocklesson86, Beblobs and CoachMom. Here is Chapter 1! See you next week :) **

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**CHAPTER ONE**

The black SUV came to a slow and steady stop on the dark and lonely road in the middle of nowhere. Okay so it wasn't the middle of nowhere, they were somewhere in North Carolina, but it sure looked like the middle of nowhere. Trees stood on either side of the road, for as far as the eye could see, not that there was much too see with the very early morning fog that surrounded the stationary vehicle; it was like the opening scene to a horror movie. The one where you know the next person to say something is going to be killed, or at least that is what Haley would say if she knew they had stopped here on a back road somewhere close to the North and South Carolina boarder.

Nathan looked into the rear view mirror; his wife and son were fast asleep in the back seat. Haley had chosen to sit back there, as the last time she had fallen asleep up front she had, had a cramp in her neck for a week.  
He smiled as the teddy bear his son had been playing with suddenly fell to the floor. Turning back around Nathan undid his seat belt as quietly as he could, before opening his door and getting out. He was having second thoughts about this, he knew that he had been the one that had talked Haley into this but now a couple of hours from Tree Hill he was starting to have some very different feelings about this.

"Nate, honey no one is going to be up this early," Nathan jumped and spun around tucking his cell phone back into his pocket, as he saw his wife walking up the side of the road. Her arms wrapped around her to protect her from the cold morning air.

"Gezz Hales you scared me half to death, I thought you were asleep." he said Nathan pulled her into a hug knowing that she would freeze in the light jacket she had on.

"You forget I'm a mum, I wake easily. So want to tell me why you stopped on a road that looks like it came out of some horror film, you and Ty are always watching?" Nathan sighed and kissed her temple there was never any way to get anything past her. Haley was like a bloodhound when it came to lies, well in their group of friends anyway.

"Second thoughts I guess, fear of what everyone is going to say, you know the usual" Haley laughed and turned around in his arms so that she could wrap her own around him before she looked up into his eyes.

"And?"

"I don't know, it's just, maybe you were right Hales, and maybe this is stupid. We have no idea what anyone here thinks of us at all- well I can guess and we both know I'd be pretty close, but we just don't know anyone here anymore. How can we be sure they won't stone us to death the minute they see us?" He asked he frowned as she laughed and shook her head tippy toeing she kissed him softly.

"You, Tyler and Megs really need to cut down on the medieval movies you know that; they are going to your head. Tree Hill and the people that live there, won't stone us. Ignore, scream, slap and just plain hate us yes, stoning however no not gonna happen. Also it's too late now babe, I'm guessing we are in North Carolina, that's why you stopped making us beyond the point of no return your rule, not mine. There is a whole state between us and Savannah, literally. Besides I want our son to know his grandparents, and not just as people in old photographs that are seven years old, and a little worn around the edges; also I want to know who Luke ended up with, Peyton or Brooke you know it had to be one of the two. It's been bugging me for seven years I wanna know." She said running her hands up and down his back, something that she knew always calmed his nerves but not something he would ever admit to. Nathan laughed and kissed the top of her head before they turned to get back into the warmth of the car.

"Tree Hill here we come then I guess. The Scott's are coming home"


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay so for this month only, the chapters will be up early for you as Saturday's this month for me, are all busy which means that instead of the chapter going up in the afternoon/Morning they will go up on My Friday night. Now for those of you after what I changed majorly, this is one of those chapters. Please don't get up me if anything is wrong. I went on what I knew and how things would fit into the story. I had several people point out a couple of flaws with the last version of this chapter so I changed it up a fair bit. Hope you all like it all the same. THANKS to those who reviewed :) See you next week :) **

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**CHAPTER TWO**

It was a well known fact that Karen Scott hadn't taken her middle child running away with his girlfriend seven years ago, very well at all. In fact, things had gotten so bad that it had come to a point four years ago, where Keith, had had to get her professional help. She had been on cocktail of medication that helped her with the depression she had sunk into, as well as what had been weekly therapy sessions, that over the last year, had gone down to monthly appointments. Today was an experiment, encouraged by her therapist to see just how well she could cope with any news about her missing son.  
Keith walked into their living room, to find his wife looking out of the window, her right foot tapping on the floor a clear sign of her impatience of having to wait for Lucas and the detective she had found online.

"Karen honey, you do know Nathan will be twenty four next year, you can't force him to come back. He and Haley are more than likely quite happy wherever they are, and don't give me that look you know as well as I do, that Nathan and Haley will still be together."

"Don't you dare say that name in my house!"

"Haley, Haley, Haley! Haley James, Haley Bob James, your Goddaughter I could go on and you know it; you also know that Dr. Roberts doesn't want you snapping at people for mentioning her name. This is her town just as much as it is ours. You also don't know what happened; it may have been Nathan's idea. You just have this silly notion that it was Haley; it could be something else entirely. They may have felt they had no choice. Whatever happened you have to face the fact, that we may never know why they left, and you have accept that fact. You and I know that you will never, get off your meds if you don't and I want my old wife back, the person I married. I know your hurt and I know you want to know why, we all do but honey, you still have a child here, who deserves the mother that her brothers got. I know there is no overnight cure and I know you have been working hard to put it behind you, I just don't want this; to set you back." Keith walked over and rested his hands on her shoulders, knowing that it was the only way he was going to get her to listen and it was something she had to hear, something he had been trying to tell her for the last couple of years. When she shook him off he sighed, and people wondered where their children got their stubborn streak from.

"Karen" Keith walked after his wife getting her to stop at the front door.

"Fine, I won't snap at people. But it was still that wretched girl who took my boy away" Karen looked up as the front door opened and her eldest son and the detective walked in, all four of them make their way back into the living room. Karen, Keith and Lucas were sitting, in that order on the sofa with the detective standing in front of them. She knew her husband, son and therapist were only humouring her. She knew this was a test and she wanted to be able to prove to them that she was finally getting better and that she didn't need them to watch her like a hawk.

"Ok I know you said you just wanted me to find him but I did a little digging and found out some more information for you. Nathan was enrolled in a High School in Savannah Georgia that same year, as a junior he studied there till he graduated. Now I know this has more to do with Haley-

"No offence but I didn't pay you to find Haley, I paid you to find Nathan." said Karen. The detective looked at Keith who shrugged there wasn't much they could do if Karen didn't want to know well that was her choice. At least she hadn't closed down; three years ago she would have gotten up and, locked herself in their room for the rest of the day. Maybe she was finally coming out the other side of this depression that had taken over the last several years of their lives.

"I thought it would interest you but if you don't want to know that's perfectly fine I won't tell you." Said the detective Lucas knew that, the man in front of him wasn't entirely sure what to say to his mother's reaction. But most people didn't know what to say or do around her when she went into one of her episodes.

"Nathan attended Stanford on Scholarship. I have a friend on staff there who remembers him. She said he was a very good student, between working a part time job, and Basketball, he was very well liked, the image of a good student his grades weren't fabulous but he passed all his classes." He handed them a file that contained photo's also a tiny article about Nathan being the star of the school's basketball team.

Karen looked at the first picture in the file to see it was of Nathan and Haley as much as she didn't want to know about what happened to her, it seemed that, in seven years one thing hadn't changed, and that fact was, where there was Nathan there was Haley. It had obviously been taken at a party as Karen could see there were other people standing around what looked like a fire in the back ground. Haley was sitting on Nathan's lap she looked like she was laughing while pointing to a strange hat that sat on top of Nathan's head.

Keith had noticed it first, Haley's wedding ring it was simple but elegant just like Haley, apart from that they looked like any other young college couple at a party. There were a lot of things he had learnt through the media about his youngest son, this however was a new photo he hadn't seen this one before, he also knew they were married, but he had no idea that they had been married this young.

"There were two NBA teams, interested in him his first year out of Stanford the Charlotte Bobcats and the Seattle Sonic's; the Sonic's won out in a bidding war for him, however Nathan only played half a season as he injured his back during a playoff game, he was going for a layup when he collided with another player, and came down on his back, the wrong way I couldn't get the full details. However I know that he could have continued to play but he took, his doctors advice and stepped away from playing professionally. He does play charity games every now and then for different causes, the one he is most affiliated with however is childhood diabetes.

"The last address I have for him is back in Savannah. However that house was sold six weeks ago. I have not been able to find them after that, the forwarding address is to a friend of his one Tyler Rolling also from Savannah." Lucas nodded knowing his parents...well his mother; because his father really was only playing a part- wouldn't respond to anyone for a while as they took all this information in. He got up and walked the detective to the door.

"I know your mother asked only about Nathan, but I also found this, maybe you could give it to Haley's parents" said the detective handing a small folder over to Lucas he nodded and watched as he got in his car and drove away. Walking out onto the front porch Lucas sat down on the top step and opened the folder he never expect to find what he did, there was a copy of a birth certificate. He was an uncle, that was something he hadn't known; and thanks to his mothers stubbornness she wouldn't know either. Well if she didn't want to know anything about Haley this was the price she paid. Closing the file he smiled _I'm an uncle wow my lanky kid brother had a kid all of his own _he thought as he looked up to see his little sister sit down.

"Luke, is it bad that I don't feel anything? He's my big brother and I don't feel a thing" she asked Lucas wrapped his arm around her pulling her close.

"Lil you were four when they left, it's okay I know you love him; and mum and dad know that too, but you were so young when they left that, them leaving had no real effect on you. Don't worry I know- Okay make it more a feeling- that one day Nathan and Haley will come back and you'll get to know them all over again. You adored Haley and she adored you, now she's your sister just like you wished when you were told to make one on your fourth birthday" said Luke Lilly smiled she liked hearing these stories, when she could get them out of, Lucas, or Peyton sometimes she could get them out of Brooke or someone else but mostly she only had old photographs and a few vague memories, and well, as much as a picture could tell a thousand words, she was still missing part of the story.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi, Hi another chapter for you my dears. Thanks to Rocklesson86 and Guest for the reviews of the last chapter :) see you all next Friday :) Remember early updates this month. My weekends are busy :) Also thanks to Rocklessson86 for pointing out I had the football not Basketball team. Damn It Google!**

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**Chapter 3**

Peyton Scott looked up as she saw her husband walk into the sound booth, smiling at the young artist she was working with she told her to try out what, she had suggested while she went to see why Lucas was here. She knew he, had had something to do at his parents place today and if here was here, it could mean one of two things.

"What happened?" Peyton asked as she came into the sound booth, Lucas looked up and sighed before he held up a file.

"He found them; where they moved to after they left Seattle at least. Savannah, Georgia well that's where they were, he found a forwarding address to a friend of theirs. It's where they went, when they left here. But Nathan's Wikipedia stated that, at least we now know that's true. " he said frowning Peyton lent on the sound mixing desk, she was about to ask what had gotten him this worked up, this was information they knew, stuff they kept from Karen but they all knew it like a well read book.

"They have a kid, Peyton. I'm an uncle. Nathan kept his private life private, and he did it extremely well because when I looked at the first page of the file. There it was looking at me, a birth certificate. I've never seen or found mention of any children. Hell there is hardly any mention of Haley, let alone a kid. I didn't look at anything else because it's all in a file that is all about Haley. It didn't feel right to actually find out anything more, Lydia and Quinn should be the first to know and if they want to tell us, well that's up to them" Peyton smirked she now knew why her husband was here. He needed a pep talk before heading over to the James house.

"You are doing the right thing, they need to know. Does your mum...

"Know she's a grandmother? No she refused to hear anything to do with Haley, she didn't flip out and leave the room, which is a good thing and what dad and her therapist wanted to see, but I know that if she ever does find out, she'll kick herself or someone else mostly likely dad. But you know Nate and Hales they've been so intertwined their entire lives it hard to have one without the other. I know he went to Stanford, and we all know he played for the Sonic's, that was really weird pretending I didn't know that. But it was what dad wanted. I still don't think mum has found that DVR recording. I hate lying to her, I really do there have been so many times that she could have seen that, Nathan and Haley are happy and healthy. Ok so I didn't know they'd started a family but still, I at least knew snippets. But with mum's depression, dad didn't want to make things worse so we never told her; we kept it all from her no matter what it was." Peyton nodded, she knew why Keith had told everyone not to mention that Nathan did sometimes get mentioned in sports news. Karen would have gone nuts, and well let's face it, she had gone pretty crazy on her own. She didn't need snippets into the life her middle child was leading without her.

"Have you got all that off your chest now? Because you and I both know that Lydia will thank you a million times over for that file. I know it's been weird, and I know there are days were it feels like she hates us all but Luke, remember she lost a husband and a daughter in the same month. I'm still surprised at just how strong she is, I could have sworn she would have done exactly what Karen did, and let's face it none of us would have blamed her if she did. But she didn't; Lydia James in my book is super woman and you can tell her that if you like." Lucas smiled and nodded before getting up out of the chair he had been sitting in. Kissing the top of Peyton's head he went to leave, but not before sticking his head back into the door.

"You also might want to fill Brooke in, and I say you because we both know at least she'll listen to you and won't come after you with whatever she had in her hand and try and kill you with it" Peyton glared at him before he left, leaving her with the hard job of course, not that his would be a walk in the park but really leaving, Brooke Davis to her, well this should be fun. Leaning on the sound board she hit the talk back button.

"Mia, take an hour for lunch, then we'll get back to it. I have to duck out for a bit" she said Mia looked up and nodded, before waving goodbye.

Brooke Davis looked up and smiled as she saw her best friend walk into her small home grown boutique, she had, had offers by her mother and others to make Clothes Over Bro's internationally known but Tree Hill was home and she liked the exclusivity of having a brand that wasn't well known. A few Celebs here and there would wear her designs but it wasn't a multimillion dollar company by any means. Walking around the counter with her cup of steaming tea Brooke kinked an eyebrow at her friend's rather unexpected visit. Peyton owned and ran a small but rather successful record label and at this time of day she was normally over there dealing with some temperamental artist and not half way across town visiting her best friend.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" she asked. Peyton sighed Brooke had the right to know and if she didn't tell her, no one would, and well a bitchy Brooke Davis was never a good thing.

"I uh I have some news and I well I don't know how your going to take it at all but, if I don't tell you and you find out some other way I know you'll kill me for it. So as a test to see how well Karen can take things when she isn't on such a high dose of meds, Keith and Lucas hired a detective to find Nathan– Peyton stopped when Brooke turned and walked away she was afraid something like this would happen. Brooke hadn't taken Nathan and Haley's leaving very well in fact she had closed her self off to the rest of the world for a month after they left and it was part of, but not the full reason why C.O.B was called Clothes Over Bros. Deciding to walk after her friend Peyton headed out to the back of the store to see Brooke sitting at her desk still clutching her mug.

"Look I know you think that they are the two worst people on the planet but really Brooke, you know Haley as well as I do, in fact you know her better than anyone. She wouldn't have done this lightly and-

"And what Peyton up and leave her family and friends? Seven years Peyton and now you're telling me they are home?" Brooke asked Peyton shook her head and walked over to her friend resting a hand on her arm and shook her head.

"No, they aren't home. They were in Savannah after Nathan hurt his back and left the Sonic's. They moved again I'm guessing, not sure where, their forwarding address was to a friend of theirs in Savannah. They also have a kid, and Lucas wanted you to know that. I know you scoff and roll your eyes every time someone mentions them, and I know you haven't paid attention to what Lucas or Mouth, or any of our friends have found out in the past. But Haley was your best friend and Lucas thought you should know that, she had a child, what you do with that information is up to you. But you can't say I never told you; now I have to get back to work. I'm sorry to dump that on you. But I know you B Davis you would have killed me sometime in the future for not telling you." said Peyton quickly giving her friend a hug before walking out.

Brooke sat there thinking. She remembered the day like it was yesterday she was meant to go shopping with Haley that day instead she found out her very best friends had run away, not only that Nathan one of her other best friends and Haley's boyfriend had run as well. Brooke had first thought it was a joke, but as hours turned into day and days turned into week, and so on before she knew it the anniversary of that day had arrived one whole year, her friends had been missing for one whole year. Sure any of her other friends she probably would have believed they had run off to join a band or something else as stupid but Haley, her tutor girl. No she had never would have believed that.

Peyton Scott sat in her car and looked at the store front beside her, Brooke she knew was still hurting and Peyton knew if it had been the other way round that day she too would more than likely still be a little hurt. Whatever it was that had made Haley and Nathan run must have been something terrible. Something that running away was the only option for them because anything else was just too hard to comprehend. Sure Nathan had been the bad boy of the Scott family for a few years. Always doing things to get attention from others, but after he started dating Haley he became the stand up guy, the guy every girl at Tree Hill High wanted to date. Peyton was sure if it was any other girl he wouldn't have changed there was just something about Haley that made everyone want to find the best in themselves, it was just who she was and Peyton missed that she missed her friends and in laws; yeah even if she had known that for the better part of a year, it was still weird to think about Nathan and Haley being married; maybe it had something to do with not being there to see it but it was still something hard for her to believe.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey Hey, so this weekend is a busy one for me. :) and the whole reason I decided to do early updates this month. Thanks to those of you who take the time to read this story every week. I know that sometimes weekly updates are a little slow, but thank you all the same for that. Special thanks to Rocklesson86, NALEY23alwaysforever and Naleylover87. for the reviews. Catch you later. **

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** Chapter 4**

It wasn't everyday that Quinn James opened her mother's front door to see a Scott standing there. When she was a teenager, yeah sure, but now- well that wasn't something that happened all that often. Her mother wasn't the biggest fan of Karen Scott at the moment; yes Lydia knew that it was the depression talking more than anything. But it was the way Karen reacted whenever she saw her that had Lydia completely on edge. The two had been friends for years, but as soon as Nathan and Haley left, things changed, Lydia was still grieving for her husband, as well as coming to terms with the fact her youngest child had run away. But Karen's absolute refusal to believe that it was anyone's fault but Haley's had caused, what now seemed like an irreparable rift between the two. Quinn had thought for sure, out of the two of them, it would have been her mother who had lost it, having lost both a husband and a child. But no her mother was a pillar of strength, who believed that they only reason Nathan and Haley left was because they had no other choice, and one day, maybe- hopefully they would find out what that reason was. Quinn knew her mother had her own theories of whom, not what but who was to blame but she had never once shared them with her. One thing she did know was that, just like it had been for her, it was odd for her mother to not see so much of the Scott family; most if not all of Quinn's childhood memories contained the Scott family, she'd gone to Nathan and Lilly's christenings and she was sure she'd probably gone to Lucas's as well being a year older than him. Their families used to be so close, and now well, she still saw Lucas and Keith out and about, and Lilly always stopped to talk to her when she wasn't with Karen; but things were not the same as they used to be, and unless her mother's theory of Nathan and Haley coming home was correct they never would be that way again.

"Lucas Scott, well you were the last person I expected to find standing out here. I thought for sure you were Clay. What can I help you with?"

"As you may or may not know, mum's therapist lowered her meds and wanted to see how she would react to any information about Nathan. So we hired I guess you could say a private detective to find them. Knowing the most he would probably find would be what the rest of us already know. Just to see how she would cope, and she did pretty well. However that is not why I'm here; this guy, he actually found stuff that we didn't know, or that those gossip sites didn't know. Now most of the things concerning Nathan dad and I already knew. Actually the whole town knows, and now I guess we don't have to hide it from mum but I digress it was really where they had moved to after they left Seattle that dad and I didn't know Georgia if you were wondering. Anyway the reason I'm here is because, as the detective left this morning he gave me this. It's all about Haley, he said Lydia might want to know what happened to her, you know as she's rarely mentioned, and when she is, it's just that she's Nathan's wife." said Lucas Quinn smiled and let him in walking with him into the kitchen where her mother was talking to some friends.

"Mum, Lucas is here" Quinn knew that, her mother wouldn't mind so much, it was the friends she had over that would give him dirty looks. There were some people around town that believed Nathan being a "bad boy" talked Haley into leaving because sweet little Haley James could never have thought of such a thing. It was rather amusing to anyone who actually knew Haley, because she may have been the good girl, and she may have been the nicest one out of her friends. But there was a side of Haley James that not a lot of people knew about and for good reason, most people didn't piss her off, but Haley could be as bad as the rest of them when she wanted to be.

"Lucas, Honey how-

"What do you care about THAT family Lydia? The bad seed took your baby girl away, too much like his uncle that one." Lydia looked over at her friend with a gaze that clearly stated she was not impressed with the outburst.

"Well for one Nathan is my son in law, I'm sure you've seen the news whenever Nathan's wife is mentioned, that she is, my Haley, and I'm sorry Dawn but if you continue to think like the rest of the small minds in this town I am going to have to ask you to leave." said Lydia her friends looked at her shocked, how could she on earth believe anything that family said.

"You heard me, I have known the Scott family a lot longer than I have known any of you, and as much as you would like me to blame Nathan for all this I can't, because I do not believe he and Haley did this willingly. I believe that they were given no choice, and one day I hope to prove you all wrong. Today however is not that day. So if you are not comfortable, with me greeting someone I have always considered family, then I suggest you leave. Because I will not ask my godson to leave my home, when I know it couldn't have been easy for him to come here for the first time in many years; just to make the three of you comfortable." Lydia looked at the three women who dared not look her in the eye as they packed up their things and headed for the front door. Once they were gone Lydia turned back to Lucas and her daughter and smiled. The look of complete amazement on both their faces told her, that once again she had surprised them with the amount of strength and resolve she had.

"So Lukey- Luke what brings you by after so many years?" she asked using an old pet name for him Lucas groaned he hadn't heard that name in years.

"Please, do not mention that name ever in public or I will get Lilly to call you Lydi and I know how much you hate that, I swear I can still taste the soap from the time you washed my mouth out with it." Lydia laughed and nodded before offering him a seat when she saw the file in his hand. She went to ask what it was when Lucas slid it over to her.

"It's all about Hales, the detective dad hired, actually found something, and mum didn't go, well you know- she did ask not to know about Hales but he gave me this anyway- I didn't read it, I thought you should do that first being her family and all" said Lucas. Lydia smiled and nodded before opening the file, she came across the same birth certificate that Lucas had when he opened it on the porch of his parent's house. A gasp escaped her lips as she looked up at Lucas who smiled.

"I'm a-

"It looks like it, that's the only things I saw when I checked what was in there. I didn't want to give you some gruesome file of all these foul things she had done." Lydia nodded went back to flicking through the items in front of her. What caught her, the most was a picture of Haley with a little boy of about three. He was wrapped up in Haley's arm his face scrunched up as she kissed his cheek. She loved Vivian's stepchildren, but they had actual grandparents people who were related to them.  
This little boy was her very first grandchild, her flesh and blood. He was also named James just like his grandfather. She picked the picture up and held it close to her heart. As she did she noticed another one, this time it was just of Haley. Her daughter was sitting on a couch, she had reading glasses on her arms were folded and she looked like she was glaring at the camera. She looked up as Quinn lent in and picked up the picture smiling.

"Hey baby sis" she said quietly running a finger over her little sister's hair.

"Thank you Lucas." Lucas shrugged it was the least he could do for how his mother had treated them in public whenever she had seen the over the last seven years. They all knew that Karen wasn't herself and not to take to heart what she said, but even so, all the things she had called them and Haley over the years had stuck with all of them.

"She was one of your best friends do you ever wonder what happened to her?" Quinn asked Lucas nodded of course he did every day all the time. Haley had been one of the most important people in his life, even though she was a year younger than him.

"I know you must have a thousand things to do Lucas, but I would greatly appreciate it if you would stay and look at this with us" said Lydia wrapping an arm around him Lucas nodded and smiled.

There were photos of Nathan, Haley and James at different points in their lives; it was surprising actually to all three of them, that they weren't grainy at all, like they had been taken from a distance these photos had been taken by people who were part of Nathan and Haley's life. There were a few small mentions of Haley doing gigs in and around Stanford as well as some places after she graduated. At the very end was an article that Lucas picked it up and began to read it out loud.

"The Best of Both Worlds, My Name is Haley James-Scott and I am in many ways just like the rest of my class. I spent months in high school trying to decide which college to go to, and could I really afford it. So I was thrilled when I got offered a scholarship to, two really great schools. But unlike the rest of my class I had other things to think about, things that a normal eighteen year old getting ready for college would never have to consider.  
Which school was my husband going to go to? How would we raise our son if we went to schools that were not only hours but states away from each other? What would a school say about me having a three month old with me? Thankfully I didn't have to worry about Nathan." Lucas stopped for a minute and looked up to see Quinn wiping a tear from her cheek while Lydia had given up wiping them away. All she had to do was look at him to tell him to keep going.

"We were offered scholarships at the same schools. So we knew what we would do. But I still had worries about what we would do with Jamie, no school was going to let us be in the same dorm married or not. Would it really be fair of me to have a roommate and expect them to be ok with having a young child living with them? Nathan and I had been on our own since we were sixteen we didn't have family we could turn to for help. We couldn't leave Jamie with them even if we wanted to, they hadn't seen us in almost two years and they didn't know Jamie, plus they lived on the other side of the country. There was no way Nathan or I wanted to be away from our son that long. So what were we to do? I will not even begin to describe the images that floated into my mind during that summer; they were some of the strangest and most unrealistic idea's I have ever had.  
Our first day here Nathan and I decided we would walk in as a family because that's what we are a family. So that is what we did, most people looked at us strangely but we said nothing, we just kept on walking. That was the day we met Erin Cunningham she worked in Admin and had heard about a couple with a young son who would be attending Stanford that year. Erin helped Nathan and I out so much in our freshman year. She found us a place not too far from campus, a place that was neat, clean, and wouldn't cost us too much. But most of all it allowed us to have Jamie with us. Nathan and I were able to live in two worlds thanks to Erin, by day we were just normal college students worrying about class assignments and cursing that there were never enough hours in the day. By night we could be parents and watch Jamie grow up we didn't have to miss anything we had the best of both worlds." as he finished Lucas put the article down so that Quinn and Lydia could see the small picture that was under it. It was a picture of Nathan in his Cardinal's uniform grinning down at Haley who held baby Jamie in her arms. The caption said The Scott family at a Cardinals home game.


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey! So next week the updates will go back to how I said they would in the ****Prologue. Almost didn't get this chapter up today due to real world reasons, but a quiet house, I was able to power through and get all I needed to fix done. Some of you might start to notice some old chapters, have gone and some new ones in their place from here on out.  
Big thanks to Rocklesson86, GottaloveNaley, MADDIE and Guest for the reviews and as always thank you all for reading this even after what seemed like I had abandoned the original. GARRRRRH! Stupid horse sack of Ketchup peee GAA! So I had to come in a reformat everything hopefully none of you tried to read it with out the formatting. I can tell you my dad knew I was not impressed and my neighbours probably knew it too.**

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**Chapter 5**

Lilly Scott had been having a rough week, her mother was obsessing and not in a good way, about the brother she could barely remember, something about a file Lucas had taken over to Lydia James. Lilly really hadn't paid attention to be honest; she had enough going on already. Her English teacher had up a quit; her friends were all fighting with each other, Peyton still insisted on treating her like a five year old, she had to learn an entire song on her violin by the end of the week for music, and to top it all off her PE teacher thought just because Nathan and Lucas were sporty she would be to, so sometime this week she would be climbing the rope, unassisted- that was a disaster waiting to happen, she could throw a free throw sure, but that was the extant of her sporting abilities. There was also the fact that no-one seemed to care what she was going through, and ok she didn't expect her friends to get it. They didn't have adult siblings, but they did share the same PE class, she was sure they were all waiting for her to fall flat on her ass, for something she had apparently done but couldn't remember.

Everything was just one big mess that she seemed to be the one that got lost in the middle it all. Lilly knew it was by no fault of anyone's- ok well maybe that detective for giving Lucas that file, and maybe it was who ever started this stupid fight, and her brothers for both being athletic. One thing Lilly did know, was it wasn't her fault and yet she was the one that felt like she was drowning in all of it- it wasn't even her crap she was downing in. Walking into her fourth period English class, she sighed it could only go up from here right? Surely she had hit the bottom of this seemingly never ending crap shoot. Taking her seat beside her best friend- the one person who was still talking to her- Lilly really hoped that this new teacher wasn't a complete loser middle school was confusing enough already she didn't need another teacher adding on to that. Looking up as said new teacher walked in Lilly noticed, that this teacher couldn't have been that much older- if not the same age as Lucas; _well this is going to be interesting _Lilly thought.

"I know how annoying it is to get a new teacher when you have just gotten used to the other one. I also know that your last teacher left suddenly. That being said I wanted to take some time to find out from you what you had done in the last couple of weeks. However first I wanted to introduce myself. My name Mrs. Scott I recently moved back to Tree Hill with my husband and son. I actually attended this school and sat where you are now. In that very seat, actually" Mrs. Scott said pointing to Lilly every one turned and looked at her; _then again it could be worse so much worse_.

"I'm sorry I don't have the class list on me just yet, so if you could all just tell me your names when I point to you."

"That's Lil-ozer or Lilly Scott hey you have the same name wow Lil-ozer are you two related? Eww, who'd wanna be related to a teacher?" Lilly sneered at the kid to her right who sat on the other side ofthe room, she couldn't stand Kellie Lincoln. Mrs. Scott smiled and nodded looking over at the girl who had said that.

"You must be Kellie; yes I've heard about you; and trust me that isn't a good thing. Also correct me if I am wrong, but isn't your step-mother a teacher at this school? The vice-principal if I'm not mistaken, so I really wouldn't want to talk too much about not wanting to be related to teachers if I were you. These halls have ears, trust me I know" Lilly smirked and look over at Kellie who now looked like she wanted to murder Mrs. Scott _Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all_.After going around the room and finding out everyone's name Mrs. Scott pulled the book they had been assigned out of her bag, and walked around leaning on the front of her desk while opening well worn book and flipping a few pages.

"Okay can someone tell me where you are all up to, from the few notes I have from your last teacher you're up to chapter 14 yes?"

"Well, that's where we are meant to be up to, but that was just a guideline, see Mr. Hoover well he was a cool teacher if we didn't want to do it we didn't have to- well I didn't have to. Are you going to be a cool teacher Mrs. Scott? I'd hate to get you fired after your first day, how would that look to another school?" One look at their new teacher Lilly knew that English would soon be her second favourite subject, right behind music- Kellie wouldn't be able to get away with any of her crap in this class.

"Oh I can be a cool teacher, I can also be your worst nightmare that all depends on you Miss Lincoln, are you constantly going to disrupt the class- just because your step-mother works here doesn't mean I'm going to be treating you any differently than anyone else in this class. I will state this one time and one time only. I will not give preferential treatment to anyone in this class- and anyone who thinks otherwise is in for a very long year." It was clear to all of them now that, if they played by Mrs. Scott's rules they would be in for a fun and exciting year. However if they played by any other rules- well they were yet to see what kind of year that person would have, but they no doubt would find out in time Kellie hated following rules, she preferred to make her own.

For the rest of the lesson they talked about what had happened in that chapter, and what that meant to the overall plot of the book. When the bell rang Mrs. Scott set them their homework for the next two days. Comprising of the next two chapters, as well as an introduction into who they were some of the topics that they could include were, what type of music did they listen to; did they come from large or small families, and what they wanted to achieve this year. It was to be handed in, during their next lesson. The sixth graders, were packed up and out of the classroom before Mrs. Scott had finished what she was saying, Lilly half expected most of them hadn't heard their teacher and they would find out, about that next lesson. Shaking her head, she walked out into the hall way and almost ran into the principal.

"Sorry Sir,"

"that is quite alright Ms. Scott" Dervish looked over the young girl to see her teacher grabbing the young girls violin case that she had forgotten in her haste to get out of the room.

"I think you will find music to be a bit difficult without this?" Lilly turn around and blushed having forgotten the most important thing.

"Thank you, Mrs. Scott"The two teachers in front of her nodded as they made their way into the classroom, leaving her to get to her music class before the warning bell.

* * *

Sixth period for Lilly Scott and her best friend Mattie was lunch, after having dropped their books off at their lockers, they headed to the cafeteria, laughing about something that had happened to Kellie in Mattie's science class. Taking a short cut that would lead them away from Kellie Lincoln and Kellie's best friend Fay Irving's Lockers and instead pass the staff room. Neither girl were worried what their teachers would say, all of them knew just how annoying Kellie and Fay were and would more than likely congratulate then for avoiding the two trouble makers. One month into school and they were already the most hated sixth graders at Tree Hill Middle School.

"So Haley how were your first few classes?" they heard their PE teacher ask as they passed the door.

"They were all good, although I see you all failed to mention that my sister in law was in my sixth grade English class, thanks for that. Just to remind you I wasn't the headache that was Brooke, and don't give me that look. I remember what you said to my mother on my midterm reports; so nice try. Lilly was a little young when Nathan and I left she didn't recognize me at all. She's a lot like me at that age which is a little surreal."

"Oh I know, it was one of the reasons I didn't tell you, and yes, when you were here Brooke Davis was always the instigator but you were her best friend. I also never saw Brooke becoming a teacher; I have to get the pair of you back somehow. Lilly is just as bad at sports as you are; I realized that when I saw the colour drain out of her face when I told her she was climbing the rope unassisted, next period." Mattie looked at Lilly who had that same look of shock on her face as she had two days ago in gym.

"Oh Kellie is going to have a field day with this" Mattie said as she pulled Lilly away from the staff room before they were noticed.  
Mattie felt for her friend she honestly did, out of all of their friends she was the closest to knowing what it was like having a sibling pretty much double her age. She had a half sister on her dad's side who was in college. Mattie didn't know her at all, they hadn't been raised in the same house, and she'd only spoken to her on the phone a handful of times. She also knew that Lilly's family was well a little mixed up at times which is why most of the time, school was a safe haven, away from all the crazy, even if Lilly had the two most annoying girls on the planet to deal with. This threw a spanner in the works big time. There went Lilly's sanctuary.

"What are you going to do?" she asked once she had gotten over the shock, Lilly shrugged she had no idea what she was going to do how did you tell someone who you vaguely remembered that, you knew who they were; and it was only from a conversation you'd overheard. Why did her life have to be so crazy?

* * *

Lilly, packed up her locker at the end of the day and smiled as Mattie came over to her, the two of them had been trying to come up with a way to let their English teacher know that they knew who she was. So far they had come up with zilch.

"So what are you going to do?" Mattie asked closing her locker Lilly lent against it; and handed her friend a piece of a paper, that had a few names on it.

"I don't get it"

"I don't remember much about her, but I remember that she liked music, she loved singing and whenever Nathan was mentioned, it was mentioned that his wife was a singer. I have a few of her songs on my phone, not that I would ever let my mum know that. But I guess I just wanted to know if she sounded like I remembered." Mattie nodded and smiled before wrapping her arm around her best friend as they left the lockers and headed down the hall.

"If you want me to come with you I will."

"I know but I think this is something I have to do alone. Who knows maybe I'll find another place to hide away from the crazy side of my family. Wish me luck"

"Luck"

Lilly turn off down another hall as Mattie made her way towards the south exit doors. Arriving at her English classroom Lilly took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in" Lilly walked in to see Mrs. Scott who also happened to be her sister in law sitting at her desk going over something. When she looked up she smiled slightly.

"Is everything ok Lilly?" Swaying back and forth on her heels for a minute, Lilly looked at her teacher then back at the piece of paper before walking over and placing it on the desk. She saw her English teacher frown for a minute before reading the list. As she got to the bottom she smiled.

Chris Keller

Mia Catalano

Alex Dupree

Haley James-Scott

"You know don't you?" Lilly nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek she wiped it away quickly.

"Come here kiddo," Lilly tried to fight the tears off she didn't want them to fall, she hated showing emotion, more for the fact that, it really had never gotten her anywhere before. Sure her dad would give her a hug, and Lucas from time to time would as well, on her worse days, back when Lilly was around the age of five she could remember her mother telling her to buck up, once when she had fallen off her newly two wheeled bike and taken the skin off most of her knee, it was then that Lilly had started taking care of herself.

"I'm sorry for crying Mrs. - she stopped a finger was held up a finger.

"Lilly you only have to call me Mrs. Scott during school and only because I'm your teacher. For the rest of the time I'm your sister-in-law. The worlds not going to end if you call me Haley" Lilly nodded and smiled.

"Why did you and Nathan leave? Mum says it's because you wanted to marry Nathan at sixteen, but dad thinks there was more too it. And the times where I have actually gotten to talk to your mum she says the same thing. But that has never been very often or for very long" Lilly bit her lip as her sister in law sighed.

"Now I can't tell you everything." When Lilly rolled her eyes, she heard Haley chuckle and looked over at her, the smirk on her face told her that Haley obviously had done the same thing at some stage.

"But I promise to tell you everything I can, now it may not be much and it may not be what you want to hear sometimes; but I can promise you that when I am not looking out for you like a big sister should I will tell you everything I can. But you have to remember you are eleven there are going to be things I will not tell you simply because I think you are too young to know. I love you kiddo always have and if I haven't told you something, it's because I love you. You're a kid Lil there are something's you shouldn't have to worry about. That being said I'm not going to treat you like a baby. If Nathan and I think you can handle it we'll tell you even if your mother kills us" Lilly nodded she could understand that. So there they were now sitting side by side on Haley's desk, big sister and little sister talking about everything mostly however it was, about Kellie and Fay and how most of the other teacher handled them in other classes.

Lilly was the first to look up when someone cleared their throat, standing in the door way was Mr. Dervish.

"Is everything ok Mrs. Scott?" he asked Haley looked at Lilly who shrugged and nodded.

"Everything's fine. Just catching up that's all."

"Ok, I'll see you both tomorrow. As for now I'm kicking you both out of my school I need to set the alarm" He said it amazed Lilly that he hadn't said anything more than that. She knew if it had been anyone else they would have at least said they didn't think it was appropriate for a teacher and a student to be alone in a classroom after hours, especially Mrs. Hankel she was the least liked teacher out of anyone here.

"And be glad Hankel didn't find you. But I don't need to tell either of you that. Batty old librarian would have wanted your head on a stick Mrs. Scott, even if you two do share a last name, and an extended family." Lilly smirked and nodded before grabbing her backpack. Turning back to look at her newly found sister in law she knew that, there were a lot of things that Nathan and Haley would have to learn about Tree Hill now, things that had changed because of their leaving, she didn't know the reason still, and she was sure she wouldn't find out the full unabridged version for quite some time, and as annoying as it would be she was okay with that, now maybe things in her life would start to be normal whatever that was.

"Hey Lil, are you expected home anytime soon, or do you want to scare your brother a bit because there are several tricks I have to get him back for that I've been looking for the perfect way for a while; and I'm pretty sure I just found it"

"I'm good, Dad will be at work till after dinner, and mum will be at the cafe, if I don't turn up she'll just think I'm at Mattie's"

"That settle's it then, you're coming home with me, so I can get Nathan back- and that husband of mine thinks I've forgotten Ha- I was just biding my time"


	7. Chapter 6

**HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! So seeing as my update, day lands on this very special day I'm gonna do a double upload. One now and one later ( IE One Friday Morning one Friday afternoon or Friday night one Saturday Morning) Special thanks to: Rocklesson86, Guest, NALEY23alwaysforever and GottaLuvNaley :)**

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**Chapter Six**

Nathan Scott looked up as he heard the front door open he could hear Haley talking to someone, it baffled him who it could be, because as far as he knew at the moment, no one but those at Tree Hill Middle School knew they had returned, he knew that in a small town like this, it wouldn't be too long before people started to talk, well people who knew them anyway. But Nathan honestly never thought that it would be today that Haley bought someone home, he knew his wife better than that. She was as nervous as he was when it came to those that they had left behind. When he saw Haley walk past the living room with a child of no more than 12 he frowned. Getting up he folded his arms and lent of the door frame.

"Hales babe I know you love kids but kidnapping them from middle school is not the way to go about having another one in the house" he said with an amused look on his face, Haley said nothing as she put her bag down and placed her keys on the table beside the door. She told Lilly to leave her bag at the door the so they wouldn't forget it before both walked into the kitchen.

"Uh Hales, care to introduce us?" Nathan asked following his wife into the kitchen he found Haley with her arms wrapped around Jamie smothering him in kisses, the five year old was laughing and trying to get free from his mothers attack.  
Nathan smiled and watched as Haley let him go and walked over to the fridge grabbing two bottles of water she closed the door and threw one to the girl that had come home with her. She looked as amused as Nathan did at the fact Haley was ignoring him when he constantly asked his wife who she was. Finally giving up he walked over and held out his hand.

"Nathan Scott. I'm sorry your teacher has seemed to have lost her manners," he said Lilly looked over at Haley who was hiding slightly in the pantry watching her husband.

"Lilly Scott," She heard Haley laugh as Nathan's jaw dropped, he then turned to look at Haley who nodded. Before Lilly knew it Nathan had wrapped her up in a hug.

"You can't be my little sister, my little sister- well she's, and she's tiny" he said looking down at her Lilly shrugged.

"Nathan, now I know you went to Stanford and I know for a fact that, that is one school that requires a student to do at the very least basic mathematics. Four plus seven equals eleven" said Lilly Nathan laughed, shaking his head at just how much his little sister had grown, to him it was like their mother had put her in some sort stretching machine. She used to be this tiny little thing, in every aspect. Now, now she was this lanky pre-teen.

Haley glanced over at Jamie and noticed how confused he looked, she walked over to him and wrapped him up in her arms again, in the coming weeks there would be a lot of people who would wanted get to know him, people Jamie had only known from pictures, that wouldn't stop them from wanting to smother him in kisses, something he didn't even like when she did it. He wasn't going to be too impressed with the amount of people here who would try the same thing. She knew it was best if they start him off with the one person who wouldn't; Lilly knew just how annoying that could be not to mention daunting for a five year old. She'd been there-well they all had but Lilly had been there in the not so distant past.

"Jamie baby, I'd like you to meet someone. This is your aunt Lilly. Lilly this is our son Jamie." She said Lilly smiled she could only imagine how shy her nephew was bound to be around strangers, she had been the same at that age, that's not to say that she had been shy, some kids were social with new people at five she hadn't been one of them. Jamie looked up at his mother with a questioning look on his face.

"Its ok sweetie," she said Jamie nodded and slid off his seat he walked over to Lilly and gave her a quick hug that surprised the eleven year old maybe he wasn't as shy as she thought.

"You are a lot bigger then in mama's photos" he said Lilly looked over Haley who smirked and nodded; Lilly grinned and looked back at Jamie.

"I was younger then you are now, when your mum took those photos. I've gotten a little bigger since then" said Lilly Jamie looked up at her and nodded.

"You want to play on the Wii?" He asked Lilly laughed and nodded, taking his hand they walked off. Nathan turned to Haley and glared at her before walking over and wrapping his arms around her.

"That wasn't very nice Hales; not telling me you were bringing my sister home"

"You remember Dervish right? Our sixth grade English teacher, he's now the principal he and Ventura failed to tell me she was in my class, I found out today when I walked in there she was sitting in the desk I used to sit in, not that I knew it was here till someone told me her name" Nathan laughed he remembered both teachers, they were strict but fair and knew when to have a laugh and when to take a joke, although he was sure that both of them would have a field day getting back at Haley for all the things they and their friends had done.

"So, are they-

"I asked them not to say anything until we are ready; I can't say the same thing about the kids I teach though. But the staff are going to give us some time, but knowing those two. If we don't say something within the month" Nathan nodded they had a month to figure out how to let Tree Hill know they were back or it would be said for them. He gave her a quick kiss before they joined Jamie and Lilly in the living room.

The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon talking and laughing. Lilly had never felt this welcome at Lucas's place, she always felt like she was being baby sat not just visiting her big brother. She, Nathan and Jamie played the Wii for a while and when Haley asked if she would like to help with dinner Lilly jumped at the chance.

Yes she had cooked dinner at home plenty of times and some of them had even been with her mother on her better days, but the vibe wasn't the same, she could talk openly about anything to Haley she didn't have think about what she was going to say and gauge how she would react first, she could just say whatever was on her mind. It wasn't something she was used to, but it was something she enjoyed immensely. Even though Lilly had only been four, she still had a few memories from back then she knew what her mother had been like. She had different, more loving; she wouldn't space out for days on end or go off tangents for hours that would leave even her dad confused. Since they'd gotten her on medication things had been better, and now they were slowly weening her off them, she still seemed to be going quiet well. But that hadn't stopped Lilly waiting for the other shoe to drop and for her mother to go sliding backwards in what- at least for Lilly herself- had become normal.

She found it rather strange actually, that Lucas who had mostly been around and seen her start school and every other mile stone she had reached in the last seven years, still treated her like a four year old. She wasn't sure if he noticed that he did this and she hadn't once bought it up, there were more important things going on in their lives, then Lilly worrying about Lucas treating her like a little kid.  
Whereas Nathan who had every right, to do that seeing he hadn't seen her since she was four, didn't- maybe it was being a dad himself, or maybe it was just that he had a better understanding of it, being the middle child. Whatever it was, she sure did find it amusing.

Then there was Haley, Lilly had found she liked her more than Peyton; however from what she could remember that had been true. Haley had always been the one to include her in things, if the girls-Peyton, Brooke and Haley- were at the cafe, it was usually Haley's lap she had sat on, although there had been a couple of times, where she had sat on Brooke's but not once that she could remember sitting on Peyton's. Lilly didn't know what it was, but she always felt like Peyton was brushing her off. Getting her to sit down and watch TV or something like that; while Haley actually wanted Lilly around, she wanted to know what was going on in her life.  
For the first time Lilly now knew what her friends were talking about when they said they had favourite siblings. It was now more than ever she had wished it was Lucas who had run away and not Nathan. She knew it was mean to compare her brothers and their wives against each other, but she couldn't help but notices the total difference between them. Another thing she found was that Haley didn't try and change the subject when she asked something, Peyton always changed the subject. Last week she had done it asking if Lilly wanted to play house. Lilly hadn't played that since she was about seven all she had done was look at Peyton and roll her eyes before walking off muttering under her breath sure Lucas had yelled at her later for it, but play house really?

"You're going to have to tell mum and Dad you're here aren't you?" Lilly asked looking up at Haley as she finished washing the potatoes. Haley nodded that was one thing she wasn't looking forward to.

"Could you leave it till tomorrow, I know it would be better for you to do it tonight but dad and Luke always leave me out when it comes to you and Nathan. It's like they seem to forget he's my big brother too. Yeah I was four but I was still confused when you left and they never explained it to me. I just- for once I would like to be the person who knows something they don't." Haley smiled and nodded.

"Deal, you know what I'm not looking forward to seeing your mum and dad either so I'll tell you at school when Nathan and I are going to tell them because he might look big and strong but, your brother is a big softy, that and he hates what he did to not only your mum but everyone here, we both do." said Haley Lilly smiled she was glad they had come home, sure she wasn't silly and knew that things were going to be rocky for a little while but it would all be worth it in the end, wouldn't it?

"Well if it helps I'm not angry at you. I'm just glad your home."

"Thanks Lil, now let's get this going before those two come and bug us about when dinner is ready"

* * *

Hours later Lilly walked in the front door to see her mother walk past head in a book, and not paying any attention to what was going on around her. Walking into the lounge room she found her father watching TV.

"Hey I'm home, is mum okay I just saw her-

"She's fine, just reading that book you got her for her birthday last year. She actually wanted to do dinner with you tonight, but when you weren't here we figured you were at Mattie's for dinner. Not that we mind but, give us a heads up next time kiddo" said Keith looking over at his daughter who nodded wearily. Getting up he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"She's fine, trust me Lil she's just caught up in the book, that's a good thing; I know you're too young to remember it but this is what she was like, head in a book away with the fairies. She'll probably pop into your room later, ask how your day went. You got that new English teacher right? How was that?" Lilly smiled and nodded she would make note to ask Brooke if what her dad was saying was true; it wasn't that she didn't believe him, she just happened to know he would say anything to keep her from thinking the worst.

"Yeah good, actually really good; she's not going to put up with anything Kellie or Fay throw at her so maybe I'll enjoy English as well as music; and before you ask I left my Violin at school so Mrs. Ascot could restring and retune it for me. I'll bring it home tomorrow, I'd love to stay and chat dad but I still have about an hour's worth of home work today, because Mattie and I got into a Wii war" said Lilly kissing her dad on the cheek, it wasn't a total lie, she had gotten into a Wii war with Nathan, and she did have about that much homework left to do.

Walking into her room, she put her back pack down and pulled out the book she had to read for English, looking at the chapters her class had to read she shrugged and threw the book onto her bed. She would pass this semester easy and not because she was Haley's little sister. No, if anything Haley would be hardest on her. She'd pass easily because she had read every book they were doing this semester, and not just over summer break, like they were meant to. These were some of her favourite books. She knew all of them pretty well, so what was the use was re-reading it when she could practically quote the chapters? She still had that introduction, she had for Haley to do, even though she thought it was pretty pointless now, she did it anyway; more to save their entire class from a Kellie rant than anything else.


	8. Chapter 7

**And the second Chapter for the 4th of July Holiday. I hope you all had a great day! Stay safe see you next week!**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Three days after Lilly had first come over Nathan wondered out the back door, to see Haley curled up on one of the lawn chairs, she was more than likely reading her go to book, the one she always read when she felt like relaxing. He couldn't think of the name right now, which was odd...he could picture the cover in his head without any trouble but the title eluded him for some reason. Walking down to where she was he lifted her feet and sat down.

"That's the, what fifteen hundredth time you've read that book?" he asked as he started to massage her feet, they had spent all week, when she wasn't at school working, setting up the house. Today was their first official day off, and it also marked, two weeks since they had returned to Tree Hill. They both knew that they should have told someone by now or at least someone more than Lilly and the staff at Tree Hill Middle School. They knew eventually word would get out, because parents of students would start asking questions, and people they knew, would eventually hear them and start wondering why now. But at least for now, well today anyway, they wanted to just spend the time at home, relaxing; because they both new as soon as all of Tree Hill knew they were home they'd never have a quiet moment again.

Haley laughed closing the book and putting it down beside her as she leant back in the chair letting Nathan work his magic on her sore tired feet. And dear gosh work his magic he did, if there was one thing that Haley loved so very much about him, minus his body-let's face it he was a god in that area as well- he had great hands, and he was even better at using them to work out the kinks that stress, or work or Jamie left her in. Haley knew though if she ever told that to anyone here...namely her best friend, that Brooke would see that in a dirty way, it was just who her friend was and who she had always been.

"More like twentieth but I get your point, where's Jamie?" she asked Nathan smiled and placed her feet back on his lap.

"I set him up on Skype. He's currently talking to Suzie and you and I both know those two could talk forever. They are as bad as you and Brooke used to be." Healy nodded as she took a deep breath. Used to be was right. She and Brooke used to be inseparable, and when she started dating Nathan she used to have to bargain with Brooke just to get time alone with him, although if she had known back then what was going to happen, she never would have done it.

"Thinking about what Brooke will say?" Nathan asked Haley nodded it was one thing that had always weighted on her mind, what did Brooke think of her? Would she forgive her for doing this? Would she know just how much Haley loved her, and that was why she did what she had. Seven years she had been asking herself these questions and now, in the very near future she was going to get answers. Answers she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for.

* * *

Three weeks was a long time to spend with her sisters, especially when, it was her sisters that she didn't really get along with. Vivienne as much as Quinn loved her, was just so different to the rest of them that, spending three weeks with her had just about done Quinn's head in. Then there was her wild child little sister Taylor, it was safe to say that; Quinn had not gotten along with her younger sister in quite some time. When they were all younger, Quinn, Taylor and Haley had been very close. Always doing things together, that was till Haley started school and met Brooke. After that, Quinn wasn't too sure what happened. It was all a bit of a blur. All she knew was that Tay had become this wild child, while herself had Haley seemed to stay pretty close; or so she thought. Clearly they hadn't been as close as Quinn had imagined; she'd only just learnt what her youngest sister had one with her life, well apart from marry Nathan. It was her nieces and nephews that she didn't get to see all that often, that kept her at her mother's place clear across town for those three weeks. She was just glad that Vivian, her husband, Taylor and the kids had been out here had the beach when Lucas had come over. That would have been a nightmare.

Now she was just glad to be home, to be able to hear the sound of the waves, to have peace and quiet, no squealing kids, no arguing sisters, and her mother just sitting there with a smirk on her face like she had planned it all; however knowing her mother the way Quinn did, she wouldn't put it past Lydia to do just that.  
It meant that the James house was once again, the mad house it had been when she and her siblings were kids, full of noise. As much as she had missed it there for about a week, Quinn now was just glad to be home, away from all that chaos how her mother dealt with all of that and stayed sane was beyond Quinn's ability to understand.  
Soft laughter coming in from outside caught her attention she knew the house that had been sold not too long ago, walking to the back door she saw a young couple sitting well more like lying on a lawn chair. She smiled they couldn't be much older or younger than herself and Clay. That was a good thing; she hadn't wanted noisy neighbours, who liked to hold loud parties all night, sure they held parties on the holidays but nothing that would keep the neighbours up all night; and certainly nothing that would make them want to kill you the following morning.

It was clear to Quinn even from this distance that the two of them were very much in love. She couldn't help but laugh as a young boy ran down to them interrupting the moment the pair had been having, a young family, was even better, there was no chance of loud parties lasting well into the night now. Well not for quite a few years. Moving out onto the back deck, she leant against the railing her back facing the young family as she took in the ocean air, something she had missed dearly while at her mother's place.

"Nice young family from what I hear, I've been too busy with work to go over and welcome them. But The Harris's have met them, the husband at least. From Savannah I think that's what Mark said." said Clay wrapping an arm around her, Quinn turned around and lent into his side as she took a sip of the coffee he had bought out to her. What she didn't expect to do was spit it out again when she saw the face of the young mother next door, but that was what happened, almost immediately. It couldn't be? She had to be seeing things, because if it was that easy then her worst fears from a few years ago were true. They purposely hadn't kept in contact. Resting the mug on the railing she tried to get another look, but the young mother had moved again. Maybe she was seeing things; her brain was making it up, showing her what she wanted to see. The woman in the back yard next door couldn't be her long lost sister; she was seeing things that had to be it. Picking up her mug again she took a sip sighing, how she wished it really was Haley. Sure a lot of people would be mad at them, but Quinn just wanted her back. She wanted back the sister she got along with, the one that didn't drive her insane, and the one who tell Quinn what she was thinking even before she knew back.

The following time it wasn't Haley who had caught Quinn's attention but Nathan, this time she put down her coffee mug, and walked inside, coming back out with her camera.

"Quinn! That's an invasion of privacy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked when his girlfriend looked at him with a-don't- try -me look he held up his hands and backed away.

"I'm just stating a fact, besides they seem like nice normal people." Shaking his head and walking inside he didn't want any part of whatever his girlfriend was up to.

* * *

Haley wrapped her arms around her five year old son as she listened to him rattle on about how excited he was about seeing his aunt Lilly again; she was beyond thrilled that he loved Lilly because she knew eventually they would have to stop hiding from the rest of Tree Hill it was time to face the music, both she and Nathan knew that. She kissed the top of Jamie's head as she noticed someone looking at them through a camera from the balcony next door, she went to say something when she noticed it was Quinn and not someone after a candid photo of their family.

"I think we've been busted. Don't turn around but my sister Quinn is standing on the balcony next door, taking photos, or at least using the camera to get a better look." She said reaching up and running a hand over the stubble on Nathan's face.

"What do you want to do? It's only a matter of time before she calls your mother, and somehow calls my parents or Luke"

"We could always give her what she wants, but pretend that we don't know she's there." Leaning forward Nathan kissed Haley on the forehead before taking Jamie off her lap; he placed his son on the ground next to them. There was a rather devious look in his eyes one that made his wife watch his every move.

"Sounds good to me" he said moving his fingers closer and closer to her sides. Haley kicked her legs enough to get away from him before getting up and running away with both Jamie and Nathan on her heels.

Quinn watched as they ran around their back yard and got a couple of photos along with the two she had already taken. She couldn't help but laugh. They were, by all looks to her, still the same couple they had always been. The only differences were that, they were older, and had a child of their own.

Walking inside Quinn made her way over to her boyfriend and pushed her camera in front of him, showing him the display screen.

"That's my sister you idiot, I just want to get a better look and my camera allows me to do that, yes I took photos but unlike those vultures you try to keep away from your clients, I won't be selling these photos; family only" she said shaking her head and leaving her camera on the table; as she walked into the kitchen and tipped out the now luke-warm coffee.

Walking back to where Clay had been sitting she sat down with a sigh. It had suddenly hit her that she had found her sister and brother in Law and she hadn't a clue about what she should do next. Should she call someone or should she wait till they wanted people to know; they obviously hadn't told anyone for a reason. What that reason was she didn't know, she guessed she would find out in time. However Quinn had no idea what to do right now and she really couldn't tell anyone who knew them before because they would just storm over there and she was pretty sure that was the last thing Haley wanted.

"What do I do?" she asked looking over at Clay. She smiled as he took her hands in his running a thumb over the back of hers. He knew how much finding her little sister meant to her.

"Ok I know I have no real say in this, because this is your family and this is something you have been dealing with since before we met, but from I know, and this is coming mostly from you and your mum; is that whatever made them leave had to be pretty big. It had to be something that neither of them thought or felt they could talk about. Hell they might have left because they had no other choice maybe someone threatened them-

"You've been talking to my mother again haven't you?" Quinn asked when he used almost the exact same wording as her mother had many times in the past Clay smirked.

"As I as saying maybe someone threatened them leave and nothing else will happen I don't know what I do know is that little floor show they did before. Yeah I saw it that was for you, I'm sure of it. Now you could go over there and ask them a million questions that they might not know how to answer or they might just shut down and not tell you a thing; don't spook them ok. They will come round in their own time and if you feel like you have to go over there. Then, do it peacefully, start with one of them. Say your sister and then work up to Nathan remember you don't know if it was his idea it could have been Haley's. It could have also have been a mutual decision." Said Clay getting up and wrapping his arms around her, he knew that the next few weeks were going to be interesting to say the least Nathan Scott and Haley James. Where back in town and there were a lot of questions destined to come their way. He just hoped they were ready for it because the people of Tree Hill had, had seven years to ponder what they would ask when they saw them again. Clay also knew that there were a few people around town Brooke Davis being one of them that wouldn't be happy about their return.


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey, I wasn't sure, if I was going to get this up today or not to be honest, because we just changed internet service providers and it wasn't working last night. But thankfully got it working this morning, how long for remains to be seen. Thank you to all those who reviewed, Guest however gets the magic number of being 23! Woohoo! And to Rocklesson86 thanks for the feedback on Jamie I wasn't sure if he came across how I wanted him to. So thank you for that. Until next week my dears :) **

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Haley had expected her sister to race over and bombard them with questions, why had they left? Did they not think about the rest of them? Why were they back now? A mired of questions ran through her mind of what her sister would be likely to ask. But Quinn didn't race over, neither did her mother come over and attack Nathan like Haley thought she would. It had been 48 hours since their little floor show, one that kept playing over in her mind, did they do the right thing, had Quinn been angered by it? Was her sister plotting with the rest of the town to get their revenge? Haley didn't know and it was starting to bother her.

Walking out the back door, she stopped suddenly forgetting why she had come had come out here in the first place when she saw her older sister sitting on the edge of the pool her feet dangling in the water. The look on Quinn face made Haley, realize her sister had been trying to figure out exactly how to approach this subject. Walking over she sat on one of the pool chairs behind Quinn. Haley crossed her arms as she waited for her sister to say or do something; anything to let her know how much she was in for. She wondered what Quinn had been told, Lilly hadn't been told anything but then again her sister in law was eleven. Quinn was her big sister so she imagined that her mother had filled her in on something. When Quinn didn't say anything instead she just sat there and stared into the pool Haley got up and sighed; she slipped her heels off rolled up her jeans and sat next to her. She tucked some hair away from Quinn's face and wiped away a tear that ran down her sister's cheek.

"I missed you Quinny and I know you don't understand why Nathan and I ran away. But you will, Nathan and I, well we-it's just that-it's a lot to explain and it's better if we do it all at once." Said Haley wrapping her arm around her sister and kissing the top of Quinn's head she knew that she and Nathan were in for a lot of talks like this one it was one of the reasons they had been putting it off for almost three weeks.

"Just tell me this was it something mum did? Something Karen or Keith, Luke or any one of your friends; was it something I did?" Quinn asked Haley shook her head.

"No, none of you and it's time Nathan and I started to show you all that; if we had a choice we would have stayed but we didn't and I know you want more of an explanation then that and you'll get it. Just not right now," said Haley Quinn nodded and sat up turning to look at Haley it was the first time she got to have a proper look at her baby sister. Her long sandy blonde hair was gone replace by dark brown locks that sat just above her shoulders it actually bought out the colour in her eyes more, well that's what Quinn thought. it also didn't pass Quinn that her sisters style had completely changed, gone was the ugly ass poncho their mother had made her, why Haley had worn that thing, Quinn didn't know, it was replace by designer jeans and a stylish top and jacket. Lastly, came the wedding ring sitting on her sisters left hand it wasn't flashy but it wasn't too plain either, in actual fact, it suited Haley very well; just a simple platinum silver band with tiny encrusted diamonds. She looked good. Happier and healthier than the last time Quinn had seen her. Maybe running away from whoever it was had done her the world of good.

"You look good Haley Bob,"

"Thanks Quinny, so do you. I know this must seem rushed, but I have to catch up with Nathan and our son Jamie. We-uh well, seeing we saw you watching us." Haley stopped when her sister shook her head.

"What?" She asked Quinn laughed and rested her head on Haley's shoulder.

"Clay my uh, boyfriend said what you did the other day was for show-

"Smart guy you got there Quinny, yeah it was, and seeing we thought you would eventually crack, we decided to tell Karen. I know that she probably hates me but- well it would be the same with Nathan and mum so-

"Actually you'd be surprised. Mum well- She would constantly say there had to be a reason behind it. A reason to why you both left and never said a word; she thinks it has to do with someone, and judging from the look on your face she was right" Haley laughed of course her mother would think that. Why on earth had she thought her mother would think anything different? Ever the optimist, Lydia James never thought of anyone was bad unless given hard and fast evidence to the contrary. It looked like only one of them- Haley- was going to get yelled at.

"Well can I come over lat-

"You can come with me if you like, meet Jamie we could always use another person in our corner, goodness knows we are going to need it, I'm not foolish enough to think that everyone will be as pleased as you to see us. Besides I'd rather have my son meet some people happy to see us as well." Haley got up and grabbed her shoes before holding out a hand to Quinn who smiled and took her sisters hand.

Haley looked over at Quinn and smirked as she saw Nathan standing there waiting, Haley knew what was running through her sisters head. Her baby sisters, baby faced boyfriend had changed into a rather handsome man, who was now standing beside his car with his five year old son sitting on the hood beside him, Haley had done good. Nathan had well for a while there been a bad boy, not for as long as people thought, but a bad boy none the less. That in and of itself had more to do with Dan Scott; Nathan's uncle, he had tried to pit Lucas and Nathan against each other from a young age. It hadn't exactly worked like Dan had planed it too. Keith had caught onto what his younger brother was doing, and made sure to keep both boys busy and away from him as much as possible.

Even from here Quinn could see there was a look of hesitation on Nathan's face, and she knew it had every right to be there, with just how far Karen had slipped into depression, she would be surprised if her sister came out of this meet up- revel whatever without a scratch. Looking over at Haley as her sister parked her own car on the other side of the street, Quinn knew that Haley and Nathan in for a shock as well, probably not as big as the one that Tree Hill had coming to them, but a shock all the same; one that came from seeing just how much everyone had changed over these last seven years.  
Getting out of the car the two sisters walked across the road and over to Nathan, Haley wrapping her arms around him as Quinn smiled, they seemed so connected, so in tune to what the other was thinking that words hardly needed to be said, and when they were it was like whoever was with them had come in half way through the conversation, much like what Quinn could remember her parents being like when she was little, although she doubted her sister would remember that at all.

"You and I remember always and forever, no matter what life throws at us, we do things and face things together. I've been by your side for the last seven years I've faced everything you have, don't change that now. Wasn't it you that said you and I against the world?" Haley asked Nathan sighed he sometimes hated that she could read him so well but he should have known she would say that it was classic Haley the girl he'd known all his life, and the girl he'd fallen in love with.

"Nice using my vows against me... again. Okay you and me. But we leave Jamie here. From what Lilly, has said this could and probably will get ugly." Haley sighed he was as usual right, turning to Jamie she quickly pulled a face at him eliciting a laugh from her little boy before she pulled him over to her; she gave him an Eskimo kiss, before turning to look at her sister. She smiled she knew how much Jamie wanted to meet his grandparents he had been talking about them for a while. But she knew what Karen was likely to be like at the moment, not something she wanted her five year old to see.

"Jamie I want you to meet your Aunt Quinn, can you stay with her for a while. I'll come and get you when grandma isn't so mad at your daddy and I," Jamie nodded and wrapped his arms around Haley.

"Why would grandma be mad at you and Daddy? Did you do something bad?" he asked Haley sighed and kissed the top of his head. She closed her eyes for a minute trying to decide how to explain to her five year old that, she and his father had run away from home when they were sixteen. Thankfully she didn't have to Quinn stepped forward and asked if Jamie would like to go get ice cream with her.

"Can I mama?" he asked completely forgetting his previous question Haley nodded and gave him another kiss before mouthing thank you to her sister who nodded and smiled happy to spend time with her newly found nephew. Haley turned around took Nathan's hand squeezing it before they walked toward the cafe together.

* * *

Karen Scott looked over her shoulder and laughed at the dry comment her friend Deb Lee had said. Deb had moved to Tree Hill a few months after Nathan and Haley had run away. She had been Karen's leaning post through most of her depression; someone she felt wasn't judging her, or always watching her every move waiting to swoop in and save the day. She turned back and smiled at the older man in front of her before heading back to the counter turning around as she heard the bell over the door ring out. The coffee pot in her hands dropped to the floor as she saw her youngest son standing in the doorway. Her left hand came up to cover her gapping mouth to muffle the scream she was desperately trying not to let out in the middle of her busy cafe, seeing Nathan here in the flesh happy and healthy was more then she could have ever asked for.  
It had not escaped Karen that beside her son was Haley James the very girl who stole him from her. Well Karen wasn't going to have any of that. As she walked over to them, there was a part of her that knew deep down that Haley hadn't talked Nathan into anything at all, that it had been a decision they had made together. However that little voice in her head, that had sent her on many a turn, was just too loud to deny.

"GET OUT! You selfish little girl, How dare you take my son away! You tore my world apart. I LOATH YOU AND YOUR PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A FAMILY!" yelled Karen storming over to Haley she quickly slapped the young woman in front of slap was so hard that Haley stumbled sideways and Nathan moved out of the door way to catch her before she fell to the floor. Biting her lip for a second to hold back the tears that threatened to fall Haley went to say something when the bell over the door chimed and in came Lucas, his jaw dropped at the sight of his friend and brother standing in front of him.

"I-I-wow?" he looked over at the two people that he hadn't seen or heard from in seven years and the first thing he noticed was how much they had changed. Sure he had seen photos but to see it in person; to know that, they actually did look as different as they had in the photos it was surreal. He then looked between his mother and Haley wondering just how that had gone down before noticing the bright red hand mark on Haley's face.

"Mum you didn't" he said looking over at her, Karen just looked at him telling him all he needed to know, yes she had slapped Haley and she would do it again. Lucas looked at his little brother, Nathan had grown up so much since the last time he had seen him.  
Lucas in the last seven years when he thought about Nathan always pictured his baby faced little brother. Looking at him now was something totally different. His hair was short and neat, he had on a pair of nice jeans and a button down top that was open at the collar he also he had on a pair of nice dress shoes. He looked grown up he looked well, but more than that he looked pissed and he was looking at their mother. Which Lucas really couldn't blame him for, he'd have looked that way too if it was Peyton.

"Okay you're my mother and I love you because you bought me into this world but I swear if you even think about hurting Haley again I will not hesitate to hurt you as well. If you think I'm just saying this go ahead and try me, you don't know me well not anymore, there is nothing I won't do for my family. Haley and Jamie come first always have. I get that you're hurt and upset and want answers but slapping my wife is not the way to get those answers. Did you even stop to think that there might be a reason behind it? You knew us, you knew both of us better then we knew ourselves, but you didn't look into it. You went with this idiotic notion that Haley somehow talked me into running away. If you want to blame someone mother look a little closer to home. Say like your brother in law for starters. Dan is a lot more sinister than what he appears to be." said Nathan wrapping his arm around Haley and walking out of the café. Everyone could see that Haley had been doing her best to keep it together while standing there. From where he was standing Lucas watched as he saw, the tears Haley had been trying to keep back, slide down her cheeks and watched Nathan wrapped both his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.

Lucas looked back at his mother waiting for her to say something. When she didn't he rolled his eyes. He walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"This is exactly why dad and I kept everything we saw, read, or heard about Nathan away from you. It's also why we got you on those meds, they are meant to keep you balanced so you don't do things like this. This has uncle Dan written all over it, and you know deep down Nathan's right" he said whispering in her ear before walking out of the cafe, letting the door slam shut behind him.

* * *

Nathan looked up as Lucas walked over to them. He took a deep breath ready to defend his wife again, when Lucas put up his hands as if to say he wasn't coming to argue.

"I know she doesn't deserve it believe me I know that better than anyone, but what you have to understand Nathan; is mum slid into a major depression when you suddenly up and left and never returned. Its taken dad and I this long to get her back to almost normal; now I'm not saying you shouldn't have come back not at all I'm just explaining why she reacted the way she did. We all thought that would be Lydia but Hales your mum- well she seriously impresses me with the amount of strength she has." He said Nathan nodded as Haley rested her head on his torso looking over at Lucas she smiled weakly wiping away any vestige of tears still on her face.

"You look good Hales, really good. One thing confuses me though, why do you want us to look at Dan? I know the guys a son of a bitch; most people wouldn't trust him at all. He's got the whole town scared of him. That's how he got mayor. But what you're talking about, he'd never really go that far would he?" he asked the young couple in front of him sighed; they looked up at each other talking only through their eyes before turning to look at him, Haley quickly stepped forward to give her friend a hug before she let him know that in a matter of minutes his world as he knew it would come crashing down around him.

"What Nathan and I are about to tell you- Luke it's going to suck and you're going to be more than a little pissed off, because it's going to feel like a sucker punch to the gut as a twelve year old you would have said. But know that I- we never wanted that for you or anyone in Tree Hill. We wanted to keep you from it, and if there was a way to lessen the blow now, well I'd do it in a heartbeat but there isn't and I'm truly sorry for that."


	10. Chapter 9

**I'm SORRY! I forgot yesterday, then went out early this morning please don't hate me! :(**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Nathan wrapped his arms around Haley as they sat on the river court with Lucas who was waiting for them to start talking. Haley had her eyes closed obviously trying to work up the courage to talk about what had happened, the hand mark on her face had started to settle down a little but there was a small scratch under her right eye where Karen's wedding ring had gotten her.

"You remember my dad right? Fire Fighter, all round goof ball just a really great guy" said Haley Lucas nodded Jimmy James was one of those parents who didn't seem like a parent half the time, sure he like to intimidate the guys his older daughters had bought home, heck his own father had joined in a couple of times, and when Nathan and Haley had started dating it had been amusing to see him try and catch them out. Most to the time he had the worst timing in the world, he would normally walk into Haley's room when they were just talking or when they were actually working on stuff for school. But there had been a few times there that he had walked in on them making out and he would stand in his daughters door way making comments that made the two teenagers laugh hysterically.

"How could I forget Jimmy Edwards killed him," said Lucas he frowned when Nathan tightened his arms around Haley as more tears started to run down her face.

"It wasn't Jimmy. I had been in the library and I had been listening to this new song Peyton thought I would like. I walked out into the hall to see your uncle shoot my dad; he'd just gotten Jimmy to put the gun down. Dan picked it up and shot both of them. I dropped my books getting his attention. He said if I told anyone he'd go after you or Nathan." Said Haley, Nathan watched his brothers face go from worried to confused to pissed off in a matter of seconds just like his had done seven years ago. When Lucas got up Nathan frowned.

"He'll be at the cafe"

"Luke no"

"They have to know Hales you guys haven't been here, you haven't seen what all this did to mum, she has to know, she has to know it wasn't you. Because for the last seven years she has thought her Goddaughter; one of my best friends was lower than a scum sucking leech I've had to listen to diatribe after diatribe about you, Lilly has too. In fact the whole town has and Dan has sat there every time and not said a damn word about it" said Lucas taking off back towards the Cafe he was going to have a few choice words with that uncle of his.

* * *

Dan Scott sat with his brother and sister in law enjoying a nice cup of coffee at the end of the day. It had been a ritual they had, had for many years. Even with the events from earlier today, they still carried on this tradition. Karen had carried on like nothing had, happened at all when both her husband and brother in law walked in. She knew she should have at least asked Dan what Nathan was talking about, but yet again that little voice in her head, told her that, it was all a ruse something Haley had talked him into. So they sat around like they had for as long as she could remember talking about their respective days and what they planned to do for the upcoming holiday season, that didn't seem so far away now that they were at the end of September.

All three looked up as the door chimes sounded and in walked an enraged Lucas. Karen went to ask him what was wrong still playing under the pre-tense that nothing had happened earlier. When her eldest walked over to his Uncle, muttered something then punched him square in the face knocking Dan flat off the chair and sending said chair flying out from under the table knocking into the one beside them. When Dan stood up, holding his jaw he looked at Lucas, wondering what had gotten into him. He went to walk past his nephew to grab his chair when Lucas grabbed his shirt and pinned him against the wall. As much as he fought, Lucas was quite a lot stronger and Dan couldn't push him off.

After several minutes of trying, Dan resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get out of his nephew's grip anytime soon. Looking towards the door he saw Nathan and Haley standing there. A smirk came across his face so his other nephew was back in town, along with his darling little wife; their son was bound to be here somewhere. Well he had, had fun. Seven years it was a good run. He thought for sure the two of them wouldn't come back but then again he was always underestimating the two of them.

"Tell them what you did! Tell them!" Lucas yelled grabbing Dan's shirt and pulling him away from the wall before pushing him into it again, his parents where looking at him like he had grown another head. They couldn't figure out why Lucas had come in here and attacked his uncle; well Karen had an idea, but it wasn't one she was going to acknowledge. When Keith saw Nathan standing at the door with Haley, he knew it had something to do with them. Stepping around his son who continued to yell at his uncle, Keith made his way over to the door of the café, he noticed as Haley slipped her hand into Nathan's and step behind him resting her cheek on the back of his arm. Never in his life did he ever think that his goddaughter, Haley James would be afraid of him but then again he never would have guessed he wouldn't see her marry his son either.

"I think you should come in," he said Haley bit her lip and looked up at Nathan after Karen's performance earlier, she was worried what they would do, and she knew that Quinn and Jamie would be back soon, she didn't want Jamie seeing anything that would potentially wreck any relationship he would have with his grandparents. They stepped inside for a minute before Haley noticed Quinn walking back towards them. She squeezed Nathan's hand before walking outside again.

"Quinny where's-

"With Lilly, it seems cool aunt Lilly and her friends are more fun to hang out with then me" Quinn pouted Haley smirked, and nodded Jamie had been bugging her all week to see Lilly so she wasn't entirely surprised.

"Sorry my fault, Lilly is in my English class, she figured it out, and came over for dinner one night she and Jamie got along really well and he's been asking to see her all week. He'll be ok, with her. Do you want to come in?" Haley asked Quinn thought about it for a minute, Karen wouldn't be too happy but she wanted to know what was going on, and why Lucas was holding Dan against the wall, looking like he was ready to kill him.

"Sure"

* * *

Lydia James hadn't been entirely sure this was a good idea when Quinn had sent her a text telling her to get down to Karen's cafe ASAP. She and Karen had been at odds about what made their children decide to leave. Karen insisting it was Haley who made them leave and not having a bar of what Lydia thought at all. Walking over to the cafe she hadn't been in since after the wake for her husband's funeral. The first thing she noticed was the front window had been smashed. A dilapidated chair sat on the footpath outside. Frowning she wondered what was going on inside, as she came to the door, she noticed that Lucas had Dan pinned to a wall, while Nathan had his arms locked around Keith's shoulders. Opening the door she walked in looking around. She also noticed that inside the cafe looked worse than it did from the outside. Quinn was standing behind the counter with Karen, who had a cloth pressed to the side of her head. Lastly she noticed Haley, standing in front of Keith with her hand pressed to his chest. Why hadn't she seen that before?

"Keith please; listen to me you couldn't have stopped it, because you didn't know no one did, Nathan was the only person I told. I didn't even tell Brooke and back then I told her everything. Don't beat yourself up please. And don't do anything stupid, because then he wins, he got to you and you get taken away from your family which is what he wants. Trust me I know, he's tried to do it to Nathan before; he knows the Scott family temper. He knows how to push buttons it's what he does best so please do not let him win. He's won too much in the past I don't want to see him win again. Besides, my son deserves at least one grandfather. He took away one, don't let him take the other please" Lydia couldn't believe what she was hearing, Dan had shot her husband, all these years she had been blaming a misunderstood teenage boy for what has gone down that day, but how did her daughter know this, why was it only Haley who knew?

"Haley?" Haley turned around to see her mother standing near the door, looking over at Quinn, who seemed to understand what her little sister was saying, walked around the counter, and over to her mother. Grabbing a chair and placing it behind her mother, Quinn nodded. As Haley told her story again, Lydia's face became white before she fainted, luckily Quinn was able to catch her.

"You know Haley we had an agreement, and you broke it" said Dan. Karen, Keith, Lucas and Quinn watched as Haley stormed over to him.

"If you even look at Brooke, Lilly or Peyton the wrong way not even God himself will be able to save you, just remember Dan you maybe the devil incarnate but in the last seven years you've pissed off a lot of the wrong people. You chased Nathan and I out of almost every town we've lived in, but unlucky for you we still have friends in those towns so remember- before you decide to go through with your threats. That from here to California you have nowhere to hide." Lucas thought she was going to hit him but she simply turned away and walked over to her sister and mother who had woken up and was now sitting on the chair Quinn had gotten her.

"What do you mean look at them the wrong way?" Keith asked.

"That's the reason we left, he told Haley not to tell anyone, but she told me then he said if she didn't leave, he would hurt one of them but she wouldn't know who till it was too late. He never thought I would go with her; he wanted me to stay, for only Haley to leave. But I wasn't going to keep his sick little secret and I told him that so he said I had better leave too if I wasn't going to play by his rules.  
We'd just arrived in Savannah when he tracked us down and said that if we ever made contact, he'd do it anyway. That's why we have so many photo albums at home, so many unsent letters we were protecting them and you the only way we could, the only way we knew how. I mentioned you once in this online magazine and then shortly after Brooke's store when it first opened was broken into, we couldn't mention you at all in public, because he didn't want us to, he wanted us to look like the bad guys. Just because we couldn't contact you doesn't mean we didn't keep up with what was going on here." Said Nathan, if Dan thought he was screwed before it was nothing compared to now. Before Lucas or Keith were able to do anything though he did get one question out.

"How, how did you know what was going on here?" This time it was Nathan's turn to smirk evilly.

"Well for one there's the newspaper and clearly you never looked into John Thales or Amy Act-Teas rearrange the letter Uncle Dan, you always said you were good at anagrams. I'll give you a minute." It was Keith that figured it out first, a smirk came across his face, waiting for his brother to figure it out although he knew Dan wouldn't he would only be thinking of Nathan Scott not both of them. When he could see that his brother was still trying to figure it out he decided to give him a helping hand.

"Danny might help if you add Haley James" Dan scowled they had fooled him. All these years they had one up on him and he didn't even know it. If they could get that past him what else had they gotten past him? He'd have to think about that.

"Lucas let him go," said Karen when her son looked at her oddly she just nodded, sighing Lucas let his uncle go.

"Listen to me very carefully if you come near my family again, Dan I swear you will see me at my worst, even worse than before and trust me you don't want to see that. Now please leave, you are no longer welcome here." Dan straightened his shirt up and eyed Haley for a minute when she didn't flinch like she used to he walked out. Leaving the mess and destruction he had caused behind him. Karen then turned to her husband, and eldest son, a look more of hurt in her eyes than the anger that had been there a minute ago.

"I understand you wanting to keep certain things from me, because of my depression, what I do not understand; is why you felt the need to keep the fact I have a grandson from me." It was Lucas who stepped forward.

"Do you remember that detective a few weeks ago? The one with the information you said you wanted to know nothing about; that was it. You choose not to be informed about that; dad didn't know either; until I told him, the detective gave me a file when I showed him out, a file about Haley. I checked it slightly first before taking over to Lydia. We didn't keep it from you, you didn't want to know"

The door bell rang out once more, catching everyone's attention as they turned around expecting Dan to have come back for round two. What they hadn't expected was Mattie Harris looking around shocked at what lay around her she'd never seen the cafe look like this and she had been coming to this Cafe most of her life.

"Uh sorry, Lilly sent me up to see what it was like here. Jamie wants to know if it's safe yet, I'm going to go with no. Mrs. Scott we're about to head to the River Court, I've got to pick up my little brother from Basketball do you want us to take Jamie?" Mattie asked five of the seven adults in the cafe looked shocked that Mattie and Lilly had met Nathan and Haley's son before they did.

"Before you kill Lilly, I'm her English teacher. I asked her not to say anything, Nathan and I wanted to tell you ourselves and not have it as a message from Lilly. She came over and met Jamie, after my first day at Tree Hill Middle school." Haley then turned to the young girl standing at the door.

"Mattie if you can wait a couple of minutes Nathan and I will come and get Jamie. Thank you, for checking to make sure it was safe though" Mattie nodded and headed out still not believing just how messed up the cafe was. Haley knew that her sister, mother and in-laws all wanted answers and they all deserved them. However she also knew that it would be better for them to let what they had just learnt sink in. They also needed to believe that she and Nathan were not going to go anywhere that they were here to stay.

"We will explain everything, well as much as we can another day. I know you all want to know now. But trust me, it's a lot to take in and trying to take it in all at once will do you no good. Let what you now know sink in. Then we will go from there." Haley got up and gave her mother and sister a hug.

"Besides, I would rather Jamie meet you all under better conditions than this. Quinny would you like a lift home?"

"How-?"

"They moved into the new house next door" said Quinn as her mother went to ask how Haley knew were her sister lived. Lydia nodded to let her daughters know that she would be okay if they left her alone here. A question she could see on both their faces.

"Sure thanks Hales"

* * *

After, Nathan, Haley and Quinn left, Lucas started cleaning up the cafe with his father, both Scott men needed to be doing something, as they processed all the information they had been given. It wasn't till Lucas felt his mother's hand rest of his arm that he stopped what he was doing.

"Thank you, Luke, now go home to Peyton, please" when he tried to argue with her, Karen just looked at him, Lucas threw his hands up in the air, and nodded before heading out the door leaving only the parents in the dishevelled cafe.


	11. Chapter 10

**Hey guys early Post day cos it's my mum's birthday tomorrow :)  
Thank you to all of you who reviewed I don't have your names near me at the moment. See You next week!**

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**Chapter 10**

The events that had happened at his mother's cafe had left Lucas with a headache, all he wanted to do was have a shower and relax. However, he knew that Peyton and Brooke would be having their usual girls afternoon, he also knew that normally he wasn't home around this time, normally he'd head past the River Court where Skills would be with his peewee basketball team, the same one that Mattie's little brother belonged to, they ran for an hour every Tuesday and Friday. Lucas had actually been surprised that they hadn't run into Skills when he, Nathan and Haley had been their earlier normally their friend was there setting up whatever games he was playing with them that day. That is what he would normally do, but today he really didn't feel like playing, nor did h0e want a million questions from Skills about why his mood was so off.

Rolling his neck as he opened the front door he was hoping against hope that Brooke wasn't in one of her I-hate-everything-about-Haley-and-Nathan moods especially not after what he had just learnt. He wanted to sit down on the lounge and have a conversation with Peyton; he wanted to, talk to her and tell her what he had learnt; without Brooke's constant snorts and snide comments about their friends. He could understand why she was so pissed off seven years ago, but it was like she had never let it go, they all knew she could hold a grudge, but seven years, that was a little too much, like Dan for his liking.  
Walking into the kitchen he found both of them sitting there laughing about something, walking over he kissed Peyton's head before grabbing a quick glass of water. He listened to their conversation thankful Brooke wasn't in one of her moods, because that's all he needed now.

"I'm gonna take a shower, catch you later Brooke" he said resting a hand on Peyton's shoulder, as he walked away Brooke looked at her friend and frowned.

"What the hell was that about?" she asked getting up Peyton grabbed her mug and the one Brooke had been using and placed them in sink she turned around and shrugged.

"I have no idea; clearly something has him in a twist. Maybe Karen's gone on another bender, I don't know, I'll find out later."

"Can you blame her, Karen I mean, and I'm not ranting I'm just saying can you blame her? Her son disappears for seven years with no word at all Nathan never even mentioned them when he was signed onto Seattle. Now if it were my parents, I could understand, back then I could have run around in front of them naked and they wouldn't have noticed but-

"But Karen, or Lydia would have kicked your ass, yeah I know, Mr. James wanted to, that time you were practically naked in middle school. You know I think this is the first conversation we've had we're you haven't gone off at Nathan or Haley"

"What can I say; maybe I just don't want to see that lying whore again."

"And there we go, I love you but if you ever say that about Haley again I will kick your ass, talk about holding a grudge B. Davis. She was my friend too remember, you're not the only one she left. Now I'm gonna ask you to leave before whatever is bugging Luke comes out and bites you on the ass" Brooke rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag she muttered something Peyton didn't hear and walked out the back door. Shaking her head Peyton left the cups in the sink she would wash them later as for now she wanted to know what was going on in the mind of that husband of hers.

Walking into the bathroom she saw Lucas standing in the shower his head resting against the wall, if she hadn't have known him as well as she did, she would never have noticed the tears he was trying to hide. Something must have really gotten to him today she hadn't seen him like this in years, not since he figured out that he was never going to see his little brother or one of his best friends again. Walking over she turned the taps to the shower off. Grabbing a towel she handed it to him while giving him a weak smile.

Lucas took the towel and wrapped it around his waist as he stepped out of the shower he wrapped his arms around Peyton holding her close. He knew that in a matter of minutes she would understand why he seemed so out of it and he really didn't know how she was going to react. That was the thing that scared him the most.

Peyton sat on the lounge in their living room waiting for Lucas, after their hug in the bathroom; he had said he would meet her out there. Still concerned about him, Peyton had made her way out there and sat there waiting all a bit a little impatiently, there were so many things going through her head, so many things that could have happened and she didn't know which scenario she was coming up with was worse. Looking up as Lucas made his way over to her she smiled as he sat down. She knew it couldn't be something good when he wrapped an arm around her, and he started playing with her hair, it had been something he had done since they were teenagers, it helped calm him down, or at least that's what he told her.

Lucas sighed he knew he must have been freaking her out, and that her sometimes over active imagination, was going into over drive just imagining what he was about to tell her. But he doubted that even, she could come up with something as crazy as what he was about to say. No one could have ever seen this coming. If he was going to rehash what had happened this afternoon he was going to have to keep his cool, and that wasn't something that was going to be easy, even just thinking about his uncle, made him clench his fist in anger. He started out by telling her what he had done for the day which as usual wasn't that exciting.

"Luke, I love you but I couldn't give a crap about your day at the moment, tell me what has you this worked up, I can see your fist it's I'm guessing something to do with Dan what did he do now?"

"Okay, Okay, just, please let me finish first. Well as usual I went over to the cafe to see how mum was going and well- Nathan and Haley were there-

"WHAT?" Peyton turned to look at him. Had he just said that Nathan and Haley were at Karen's Cafe, had she really just heard him correctly? When he looked at her with a will-you-let-me-finish look she sat back against the lounge waiting for him to finish what he had been saying. Lucas continued telling her what he had walked in on, and how he had figured out that his mother had slapped Haley, then about how Nathan and Haley had taken him to the River Court and told him why they left. He could see that she was just as pissed off with his uncle as he had been.

"I was holding Dan against the wall when Dad saw them at the door and asked them to come in, Quinn came in later, but she'd seen them before that. Lilly has seen them too, Haley is her English teacher. Her son was at Ike's with Lilly and her friends, Mattie came to see if it was safe for Jamie they had all called him-

"You didn't think to call me?" Peyton asked Lucas sighed and shook his head.

"Honestly. No I was kind of trying to get Dan to tell my parents what he had done, and I was still in shock that my little brother was here with not only his wife but son as well. Dan said to Haley that she had broken their agreement. Haley replied with-" Lucas stopped and turned to look at Peyton this next part he knew was going to knock the wind right out of her like it had done for all of them. He had left the River Court before Haley had, had a chance to tell him this. If she had told him Dan probably wouldn't have been left standing when he walked into that cafe, and he also wouldn't have walked out of there.

Peyton knew that whatever came next it would change her whole world and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that but she knew that whatever it was, it was eating her husband up inside and if he didn't tell her it would eat at him till he did so she took a deep breath and nodded not really sure what to expect but she would deal with that then.

"Haley said if he even looked at you, Brooke or Lilly the wrong way he would live to regret it. That he had pissed off a lot of people in the last seven years, and they knew more people who would want to have a go at him than anything he could think of doing. They left to save the three of you- Lucas stopped and watched as the colour drained out of his wife's face. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"No contact, at all or he would do something. You know the night Brooke's store was broken into?" Peyton nodded she had a feeling she knew why it happened now.

"Nathan mentioned dad in an interview. The break in was a warning to them from Dan, do it again and it won't be a window next time, they had one up on him though, well news wise. They got around him by anagramming their names, and subscribing to the newspaper. It wasn't much but Haley said it was the best they could do, and it had Dan fooled, he didn't like it one bit. The cafe is also closed for a couple of days. Between dad, mum and I we kind of, well let's just say that; the bay window needs new glass and there needs to be some new chairs ordered." Peyton nodded and kept her head resting on his shoulder, this was not what she had being imagining before he came out of their room. She would never in a million years have guessed this was what had happened.


	12. Chapter 11

**Ok a couple of things. **

**1) This is just a filler chapter but it is one I felt was needed especially to show how life had changed for Peyton and Lucas there will be more to come with them to show the ripple effect of Karen's depression on her family and friends. but for now I wanted to set them up for things to come later on. Also I didn't like the feel of how I set up the lunch at Nathan and Haley's last time so I changed it up a bit more. **

**2) Maddie thank you for pointing out my total gaff with the Anagram in chapter 10 it was meant to spell out Nathan Scott Haley James but I missed a couple of letters while creating the names :Face Palm: **

**3)Thanks to all who reviewed the last couple of chapters and went with me while I had to do quick uploads I LOVE you all!**

**4) Because this chapter is so short I'm going to go through and read through the next chapter now and upload it in about an hour or two. because all my AN ramblings makes it look bigger than it actually is.**

**Ok enough of my rambling get on and read the story! **

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**Chapter 11**

Peyton Scott sat in her kitchen with coffee in hand; it had been a long twenty four hours; and as of yet the excitement for her hadn't even started. Having her best friends and in laws back in town was one thing. Being told why they left by her husband was something else entirely. She had always loved Nathan and Haley and she knew now without a doubt that they loved her. They had sacrificed their lives here to keep their friends and family safe, from the somewhat over bearing and troublesome Dan Scott who unfortunately was the Mayor. Although Peyton was sure that once the rest of the town found out, just what he had done, he wouldn't hold that title for long.

Even though Nathan and Haley had left for the safety of those they loved, it wouldn't stop some people from expressing their disapproval, there were sure to be questions about why they had to do it that way. As well intentioned as it was, people still got hurt, and maybe that had been Dan's plan all along.  
Peyton however had always been more confused, sure she wanted answers as to why they had left, and now she had a basic one and in time, she was sure there would be a longer more detailed explanation in the future. For the moment however all she knew was that it took a lot of guts and a lot of heart on their part, to do what they had at such a young age. Peyton wasn't stupid; she knew it wouldn't have all been sunshine and smiles. There would have been hard days and days where Nathan and Haley fought nonstop. That however made their love story; at least in her eyes all the more special.

She looked up as Lucas walked out of their bedroom dressed, showered, and ready for the day ahead. He smiled at her as he walked over to their waiting coffee pot, grabbing his mug he poured himself a cup before turning and leaning against the counter.

"I know that look Peyton, I know you want to see them again, hell I'm sure most of Tree Hill will have that feeling when they learn that they are back, well the people who know them anyway. But just remember they are not the same people we once knew that version of Nathan and Haley are long gone, thanks to mostly to Dan. I'm sure there have been other people who have contributed to the fact that they are not as carefree as they once were but who they are now is mostly thanks to my sick and twisted uncle."

"I'm not that naive, I know that they won't be the same people I went through middle school and started High school with. Even I'm not the person they knew back then, people change and yes I do get your point that, they have changed more than most. But Luke I don't really care about that. I just want to see them with my own eyes so I know it's real, because as much as I know Nathan hasn't stayed that baby faced teenager, my brain has trouble believing it."

"I know what you mean; trust me I know; I've seen him and my brain is still playing tricks on me, it's going to take some time for my mind to wrap it's self around the fact that baby faced Nathan now only exists in pictures. I also have a feeling today is going to be equally as long as the last two and this trend of long exhausting days will continue for a while. Which I am not looking forward to at all; but my little brother is finally home, my mother can hopefully finally, put the depression behind her and get off those meds, once she realizes they aren't going anywhere. I know that is going to take some time. But for my sisters sake I hope it's not too long. Also one of my closest friends is now my sister in law and I have a five year old nephew that I really want to get to know. So if I have to deal with a few long days as payment for that, then give me the long days." he said Peyton nodded and smiled, it seemed their family well his side, was finally going to settle down, all the craziness of the last seven years behind them. Well for now at least, but who knows how long that would last, a quiet understanding of just what was could happen next settled over both of them only to be disturbed by the shrill ring of the telephone. Reaching over to where their home phone sat Lucas answered, not really expecting it to be anyone other than his mother, father or sister. So when he heard Haley's voice he jumped slightly.

"Hey Hales, um how did you get this number? Not that I'm not grateful for the early morning call, because I am, but-

"Oh Lil gave it to you, ok I was just wondering that's all so what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call too?" Peyton watched as Lucas's face lit up while talking to Haley, she hadn't seen him this happy or entertained by a phone call in a long time. Generally because most phone calls at the time of the morning, had meant Karen had, had another episode and the call was for him to either come over and help or, to get Lilly out of the house for a while. So she was more than happy to see that for once that, this wasn't one of those calls. She listened in to what was being said as she puttered around the kitchen cleaning up from their morning breakfast, which wasn't all that much as neither of them were really breakfast people; or more to the point, they had given up on trying to be breakfast people as it always seemed to get thrown out due to one emergency or another.

Peyton looked over at him again when he went to say her name but stopped she frowned till she saw him laugh. Not long after that he hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" She asked Lucas grinned and kissed her cheek before walking out of the kitchen.

"LUKE WHAT WAS-

"Don't worry about lunch we're going to Nathan and Haley's for lunch. Also Haley didn't want to know who I was married to; she wanted to see when we got there." Peyton's face went from slightly annoyed to amused, well now this should be interesting, although she was still confused as to why Haley didn't want to know who he had married. Looking up as Lucas walked back into the kitchen she frowned as he laughed at the look on her face.

"I can guarantee you one thing hasn't changed about Nathan and Haley, and that is that they want to see which one of them is right. Did Lucas marry Peyton or Brooke?" He said Peyton laughed and nodded that was something she knew for sure wouldn't have changed about her friends, the constant guessing who Lucas would finally choose.

"My bet is Haley got it right"

"For sure, Nathan sucks at guessing games, always has"


	13. Chapter 12

**Lets just say you're all lucky today, because you got about 8,600 words words to read. :) An hour later than I planned I got caught up making cookie's :) for Esther Day!**

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**Chapter 12 **

It had been decided later that morning after a discussion Haley had, had with Quinn that it might be better to have a whole family lunch as so no one felt jilted out of seeing Nathan and Haley and meeting their grandson/ nephew. Calls had been made and staggered arrives times had been Nathan's idea, especially with their mothers, for as much as they wanted all that animosity, put behind them, mainly from Karen's side, some habits were hard to break. Having them all arrive at different times, gave at least Nathan and Haley a break, and would also hopefully stop any awkward silence's happening at the front door.

Lydia James was the second to arrive as she pulled into the driveway of her second oldest daughter. There were a couple of cars in the Scott driveway already. _I hope I'm not late, Haley did say eleven am right? I'm sure of it._ She thought, shaking her head she decided it best to park at Quinn's and walk over, there were going to be major bonus's to having her two daughters live next door to each other although Lydia was sure that had only happened by chance and hadn't been planed by either of them.

As she opened her car door she heard music and laughter coming from Haley's back yard. It seemed like everything was in full swing, maybe she was late whatever she was here now.

The sounds of laughter only got louder as she approached the front door, which she found was wide open, this was a little odd to her, given what she knew of their past, however it also may have been like that because they were expecting people, and it would save one of them running to open it every few minutes.

"Hello?" Lydia called out, if there was one thing that, she knew probably hadn't changed with her daughter it was that, she hated when people just walked in without announcing themselves. When there was no reply she simply shrugged before walking inside. It was then she noticed her daughter in the kitchen, as she walked over there Lydia saw her leaning against the counter; munching away on a carrot stick, smirking up at Nathan. He was standing over her, his hands resting on the counter behind Hale y, with a smirk that matched her own.

"You're just asking for it Haley James," he said before capturing her lips in a tender kiss. Lydia smirked and watched as her daughter wrapped her arms around her husband. Her wedding ring capturing the light that shone through the window near them. It was nice to see them like this; of course she had seen them together as teenagers. The start of their budding romance, but watching them now let her know that even with everything Haley had been through, in the last seven years she had had someone there for her. Someone who loved her as much as if not more than her dad; Lydia also knew Nathan would never let anything happen to Haley. Her only wish was that her husband was alive today to see the person that their baby girl had become. Lydia looked up as she saw a little boy come running through the back door.

"Mama, Aunt Quinn's here," said Jamie as he jumped up onto one of the bar stools behind his parents and lent over the counter tapping his mother on the shoulder. When Haley did nothing Jamie shrugged and looked over at Quinn who winked at him. As much as she loved her little sister to death and would do anything for her; Quinn had always had this devilish streak, one that meant her pranks and harmless little jokes were often pulled on her younger sisters things that most of the time got a laugh out of them, well out of Haley, Taylor the sibling smack bang between them, often stormed off yelling at Quinn to grow up.

"Tay what are you doing here?" Quinn asked, with a knowing smirk it was about the only thing she knew that would get her baby sister's attention. As usual it worked, Haley jumped and pushed Nathan off her so quickly that he fell back and landed on the floor. When she noticed her mother smirking and her sister and son laughing at her she glared at both of them.

"Very funny Quinny as for you mister, you'll keep James Lucas Scott" Jamie giggled as his mother lent over the bench and tickled him.

"He did tell you I was here Hales and don't get up us, mum was standing there watching the two of you. Lil pervy if you ask me," said Quinn with a smirk on her face.

"Get use to it Haley James I have seven years to make up for," Lydia replied with a simple shrug, but the smile on her face when Nathan groaned after getting up and resting his head on Haley's shoulder gave her away, she was kidding...mostly.

"Don't worry babe I'll make sure she doesn't interrupt too much. So can you and Quinn go start up the barbecue, we'll be out in a minute," she said kissing the side of his head. Nathan nodded, grabbing what they would need. He started heading out with Quinn but both stopped when Jamie followed them.

"Jimmy Jam go help mummy" said Nathan when the five year old pouted Nathan just eyed him and Jamie folded his arms and stormed back over to his mother. Haley smirked and rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Haley bub, why don't you wait till Karen and Keith arrive do it all at once" said Lydia Haley thought about it then nodded it would save anyone thinking that they favored them more and it would stop Jamie from complaining about being pulled away from his cool Aunt Quinn every five minutes. Although when Lilly arrived she was sure that her son would drop what he was doing to hang out with her.

"Go on you dork go hang out with your aunt," she said pushing Jamie's head forward a little bit, not enough to hurt him but enough to make the five year old laugh before running off.

"Mama you're the dork" he said poking his head in the door he ducked back out as Haley threw a used dish cloth at him, both women could hear him laughing as he ran over to his aunt, Haley smiled and looked out with window as she saw him talking to Quinn who laughed and gave him a high five, shaking her head she then turned back to her mother.

"So wanna help?" she asked pointing to the salad mix sitting in the sink, Lydia walked over to the breakfast bar and put her bag down.

"I thought you'd never ask," The mother and daughter worked in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Haley noticed her mother was staring at her.

"If you weren't my mother I'd seriously be worried with you standing there staring at me like that, the only person who does that is Nathan, well he only does it when he's been away for a while, but still coming from anyone else it's a little off putting. What's up mum?" she asked grabbing a carrot stick off the tray beside her she then grabbed another. Lydia frowned wondering what her daughter was doing, till she saw Jamie run in and saw him run past his mother grabbing the carrot stick out of her hand.

"Thanks Mama I L.O.V.E you" he said Lydia couldn't help but let her heart swell while she watched her daughter interact with her son.

"Baby next time I call you in no fighting it ok?" Jamie sighed and nodded knowing it was better to agree with what his mother was saying then to argue.

"Ok mama," he said before running outside again. Haley laughed and turned back to her mother she rested a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow. When Lydia held up her hands Haley smirked and shook her head she turned back to making the kebab's she had been making not forty five minutes ago when Nathan had come into the kitchen and interrupted her.

"Oh and its Scott by the way, you called me Haley James-

"Baby you'll always be Haley James to me. Not Haley Scott" said Lydia walking over to her daughter and resting her hands on her daughters shoulders Haley rolled her eyes.

"If you'd let me finish, it's Haley James Scott. You're as bad as Nathan, not letting me finish what I'm saying, if I didn't know better I would say you planned it" Lydia laughed she was enjoying this side of her daughter this was what she missed the most being there and watching as her daughter turned into the woman she was now.

* * *

Lilly Scott bit her bottom lip sighing she got out of the car and smiled at her dad who came around and wrapped an arm around her. He gave her a quick squeeze before letting her go and taking his wife's hand as they walked up to the front door. They had already had a talk about her, not telling them Nathan was back in town, she had been told never to keep something like that from them again. Even though it was Haley who asked her not to say anything, no what had her on edge at the moment was her mother and just how today was going to go for her. Karen had taken her meds this morning but she was meant to take them with each meal. Especially since her slide back from where she had been. Lilly had noticed that her mother had planned to leave them at home. As much as she wanted her mother to not take them, she also knew what Karen could be like without them, and had slipped them into her pocket before leaving home. If there was one thing Lilly didn't want her brother or nephew, mainly her nephew to see was what her mother could be like without the meds.

Karen took a deep breath as she pressed the door bell today she was going to meet her grandson. She just hopped that she would have one of her better days, she could sense her daughters unease about what could happen, and the fact that her eleven year old had to worry about something like that broke her heart. A few weeks ago she would have blamed Haley. But now, now she knew the truth or at least part of it, and knew it was all her brother in law's fault.

One of these days she was going to corner that S.O.B and have a little chat with him. However that day wouldn't be today. Today she was going to or at least try to have fun with her family.

She had always known from the time they were kids that Nathan and Haley would end up together, they always just seemed to have that way about them, even when they flat out denied it. Unfortunately that feeling had never told her that, Dan freaking-pain-in-the-ass Scott would stop her from going to their wedding or even seeing her grandson in the hospital right after he was born, and she would end up on meds to keep her mood swings from happening. Someone bounding up the stairs and laughing brought her attention back to where it should have been.

* * *

"Nathan, you better tell them if anything happens I will kill both of them," she yelled as she walked up the front stairs, to their open front door, the comment Nathan replied with, was missed by all of them, shaking her head Haley would deal with him later she turned to her in laws.

"Sorry, come in mum's in the kitchen, Nathan is outside at the barbecue, my incorrigible sister, her boyfriend and my son are rolling down the sand dunes just behind our house, Lil you are welcome to join them if your parents say it's ok" said Haley Lilly looked up at Keith who laughed and nodded. Lilly took off through the house, yelling thank you over her shoulder.

"Lucas and-

"Don't tell me, I wanna see I want it to be a surprise. That's one of the things that bugged me for seven years who he would end up with, as much as we tried to keep up with everything that went on here, we missed the announcement. Our at the time neighbour's dog got to the newspaper before we did, and we couldn't get another one we tried but no luck, so please don't ruin it" said Haley Karen laughed and nodded wrapping her arm around the young women as the two of them walked further into the house, although what happened the other day hadn't been forgotten, at least on Haley's part it had been forgiven. They came into the kitchen where Lydia was standing at the back door watching Lilly run down to join Jamie whose face lit up when he saw her. Turning around she smiled as she saw Karen and Keith, although they all now knew, it was all Dan's doing, all the things that had been said between the two women would take time to heal the friendship they had once had, both of them had decided to put away any residual animosity they held for each other for their children. They could work everything else out later.

"Do you want to call Jamie in?" she asked Haley looked out to her son who was having fun with his aunts and shook her head.

"We'll wait for Luke that way he can meet you all at once. Besides he's having too much fun with Lilly and Quinn and I do want him to get to know you all if we call him in now he won't be happy." said Haley grabbing the kebabs she had been making and took them out to Nathan.

"Watch this" said Lydia to Karen pointing to their children. Karen watched as Haley placed the plate down beside Nathan who winked at her and lent over to kiss her. The couple was interrupted by their son running over to them.

"Mama, can we play nerf guns please? Aunt Quinn said I had to ask before she and Uncle Clay went to get them." Jamie had perfected the pout that Haley had, had as a little kid, and used it every chance he got on his parents, normally Haley could look around it, but now with the family he'd only ever known from picture's around, it was getting harder for her to say no. She wanted him to have great relationships with all of them; she looked over at her sister, who smiled sheepishly.

"I don't know baby last time you played-

"But mama that wasn't me that was Josh, he broke the rules and aimed at my eye, I was only-

"But still- Haley stopped as she watched her five year old fold his arms and huff before stomping away. She turned back to Nathan who raised his eyebrow.

"What?" she asked shaking his head Nathan held up his hands he wasn't going to get into that conversation right now, not with their families here.

"Nathan you know as well as-

"I know, but he's not playing with a bunch of boys older than him, he's playing with his aunts and uncle. Quinn and Lilly would rather hurt themselves then Jamie, and Clay well Quin would kill him."

"No, maybe when he's older. Besides Lucas will be here soon so- Haley walked way and stood by the edge of the pool, watching as Jamie finished what he was saying and turned back to look at her, he poked his tongue out at her and glared the best a five year old could. Shaking her head she went to turn around and head back inside when, she fell into the pool.

Keith couldn't help but laugh as he watched Nathan, push his wife into their pool. His son had to know his wife pretty well to know that he was safe to do that. He wouldn't dream of doing that to Karen at this time of the year, or ever. She was currently glaring at him for laughing. Deciding it was better to walk outside then stand there in a kitchen where his wife had easy access to countless numbers of knifes he walked out and stood beside the barbecue watching the food that Nathan had only a short time ago been cooking.

Haley came up spluttering she was going to kill that husband if hers looking around she saw him standing on the side of the pool. Shaking her head, she took the hand he offered but instead of climbing out she pulled him into the pull. Smirking at the shocked look he had as he fell in. When he came up she smirked at him.

"You had that coming you annoying ass"

"You say the sweetest things to me Haley James, let the boy play with nerf guns, it's better than playing with water guns" Haley had to give him that, she didn't want Jamie catching a cold, anytime soon, and what harm could it do really? Nathan had had a point Quinn and Lilly were not the boys Jamie played with in Savannah. Swimming over to the edge Haley pulled herself out of water feeling the cool wind that didn't bother her before, chill her to the bone now; she sat on the edge of the pool with her legs still in the water. Calling over her sister she waited till Quinn was standing near her but far enough away that she couldn't be pulled in if her sister decided to be evil.

"Fine, but Quinn any accidents and you are looking after them." Quinn nodded and ran off to tell Jamie, before they and Lilly went to get said nerf guns Haley then turned back to her husband

"You pull me back in and you'll be sleeping in here tonight" she said resting her arms around his neck.

"Wouldn't think of it, we better go get changed before Luke gets here, though or his mind will go to places not even he wants to think about" Haley laughed and nodded before standing up then helping Nathan out of the pool, like he had tried to help her before.

* * *

Lucas Scott laughed as he pulled up out the front of his little brothers house. Peyton looked over at him questioningly.

"Sorry, it's just when it was only Nathan, Haley and I before they started school and met you and Brooke. Nathan always said if he and Haley were going to play house well then it would have to be a big enough one that they could play basket ball in. The size of this house just reminded me of it, that's all"

"Nathan has played house?" she asked shocked having known the Scott family since she was about eight years old it was hard to believe that Nathan had ever played house.

"They were four at the time and I doubt they remember it, my parents and Lydia would though, and maybe Quinn" said Lucas as they came to the open front door, Lucas went to walk in when Peyton said they should wait, to which he replied that the door wouldn't be open if they weren't welcome in however just to be safe Lucas closed the door behind him. They walked through the house till they found the kitchen where Karen and Lydia were standing while watching Lilly and Jamie hide behind a tree, while firing at Clay who was out in the open back yard, and being pelted with nerf bullets from all directions.

"Where are Nathan and Haley?" Lucas asked. Lydia turned and smiled.

"Getting changed, Nathan thought it would be funny to push Haley into the pool and Haley Bob got her own back by pulling him in when he tried to pull her out. So they are at the moment drying off they should be down soon. Oh and Peyton, Haley, may squeal when she sees you. She wouldn't let anyone tell her who Lucas was married to." Peyton looked over at Lucas who smirked.

* * *

Haley walked out of the bathroom that was connected to the master bedroom to find Nathan sitting on their bed in a new dry pair of jeans, he had yet to put another shirt on, and his hair was still slightly damp.

"Mmm if we didn't have both our families down stairs" she said walking over to him and standing in-between his legs wrapping her arms his shoulders. Nathan laughed and looked up at her.

"There's always later. Jamie could go over to Quinn's or home with mum and dad, spend the night with Lilly. He'd love that then we would have this whole house to ourselves" Haley smirked and kinked her eyebrow.

"I like the way you think Nathan Scott" she said kissing him and running her hands up and down his arms.

"But for now we better get down there. Mum and Karen are dying to officially meet Jamie and well Luke will be here any minute now, if he's not here already" Nathan crinkled his nose and wrapped his arms around Haley's waist quickly pulling her down onto their bed, a surprised yelp escaped from Haley before she started laughing.

"You are incorrigible you know that, and for that, you're going to have to come down shirtless." Said Haley getting up and grabbing his shirt before running out of their room; laughing as Nathan came thundering after her, it would have been easier to try and catch her if she still had a skirt on, but now she was in hip hugging jeans. Over it she wore a simple black tank that had Road Crew California Sights Tour in white writing on the back, there was a cursive design on the bottom left on the front and if anyone wanted to look closely there was a HJS hidden in there with the three other artists who had been on the tour. Haley didn't wear so much anymore however it was clean, and she was sure, that her sister would eventually rope her into whatever she, Clay, Lilly and Jamie were playing so it would keep her cool, even if she had jeans on.

The first thing Lucas heard from Haley was her laughing, he looked up to see that she was currently running down the stairs, there was a shirt in her hand that was clearly too big for her and must have been Nathan's. When she saw Lucas she ran over and hid behind me.

"Scott get your sexy lil ass back here" said Nathan as he came down the stairs looking around for her a few seconds later, he looked around the living room till he saw her hiding behind Lucas, he walked over trying to get around his brother smirking as he grabbed his wife by the waist.

"My shirt Hales or I'll chuck you into the pool again." he said grinning at Peyton when Haley handed over the shirt he let his wife go and pulled the shirt over his head. It was is old Stanford cardinal's team shirt that Nathan had worn to death a few years ago, but these days only pulled it out when he was spending the day with Jamie, there was a patched up hole in the arm pit that, had taken Haley a while to fix purely because she like the view when he wore it.

"Bit up yourself to wear a shirt with your initials on it don't you think foxy?" Peyton asked, Haley spun around having known that voice anywhere she grinned before walking over and giving Peyton a hug.

"Ha! I told you Nathan Scott I know your brother better then you do, pay up babe" said Haley with one arm still around Peyton although she knew that this meant Brooke would be the one that would take the news of their return the worst. She was still happy that she had won the bet she had with her husband. Nathan sighed and then remembered his wallet was upstairs.

"You'll get it later, wait Peyton how did you know-

"I came across it online about six months ago, went to order one but they had sold out of my size and it was a sell out sale, they weren't making any more, took me a while at first, but I found it, so when I saw Hale's in it knew what would be on the front."

Haley laughed before looking out the window to see Quinn surrender to Jamie who was standing on a chair, with both his and her gun in his hands. Smiling she decided it was time for Jamie to meet the rest of his family that were here in Tree Hill. She lifted her arm away from Peyton and walked outside, capturing Jamie before he could get away.

"Jimmy Jam, you can come back you crazy boy, but mama and daddy want you to meet some people." she said lifting him up onto her hip. Walking inside Nathan smiled and walked over to them, wrapping his arm around Haley's shoulder.

"So baby those three there take a guess" said Haley pointing to her mother, Karen and Keith, she looked at Jamie who looked at her surprised, and then to Nathan who nodded.

"Yes baby, they are your grandparents, no more pictures bub, that's them and they can't wait to get to know you. The other two are your Aunt and Uncle, Daddy's brother Lucas and his wife Peyton."

"No Aunt Brooke?" Jamie asked looking at Haley, Nathan when he saw the look on her face came over.

"Not today bud, but there are a lot of people you have to meet so we wanted to do it in gro-

"She's still mad isn't she?" Jamie asked Haley nodded Jamie gave her a tight hug whispering in her ear that Brooke would forgive her; he'd make sure of it. It hadn't escaped anyone standing before them that, Jamie knew their faces, and names better than they thought he would. Peyton smirked and had an idea, one that would sure enough give Brooke an idea of how much she meant to Haley.

"Ok I know this is very dorkish and very, auntish but I'm doing it to prove a point to Brooke." said Peyton taking out her IPhone a getting a photo of them.

"Send me a copy, when I get my phone back, this one is hopeless and just a loan till mines fixed" said Karen Peyton nodded she had planed to anyway.

"Mama, can I go back now? Aunt Lilly and I are gonna make Aunt Quinn and Uncle Clay walk the plank" Haley laughed and nodded, letting him down.

"I will come back, cos I want to talk to all of you... but they have to walk the plank" he said looking over at his grandparents before running back out to where Lilly was waiting for him. Karen chuckled watching her daughter and grandson run down to the beach with Quinn and Clay in front of them.

* * *

An hour later found them all sitting down to lunch. After much debate it was decided that they would all sit outside, Nathan and Haley had a decent sized out door setting. It should fit them all but after trying they discovered it would be easier for Jamie and Lilly to sit on the pool side chairs. Leaving the adults to sit at the table; over the last forty eight hours it had been all about Nathan and Haley. Now the young couple had their chance to find out what had been going here in Tree Hill for the last seven years, well the things that they couldn't find in the newspaper or online. Peyton could see the question bubbling away in Haley's eyes she knew her friend and sister in law had more class then to blurt out her question till everyone one was seated. As it happened Haley herself was the last person who sat down having helped Jamie who was having trouble keeping his lunch on his plate. As soon as she sat down her focus turned to Peyton who couldn't help but laugh.

"Ok ask away," she said the other six people looked over at them confused it was Nathan who figured it out first, all he had to do was look at his wife to know what his sister in law was talking about he laughed and shook his head. When his parents, brother and in laws looked at him strangely he looked over at Haley who smirked.

"We were a couple of hours outside Tree Hill when I pulled over; it was really early in the morning. I mean really early I'd been unsure of how you would all react and Hales said that we were more than a couple of hours away from Savannah and only a hour or so away from Tree Hill, she also wanted to know who Luke ended up with, because we both knew it would be Peyton or Brooke." said Nathan, Peyton poked her tongue at Haley who poked her tongue back at her friend.

"So tell us, P Scott how did come to marry Luke when we left he was dating Brooke and you were pretty serious with Jake," said Haley, Peyton smiled and linked her hand into Lucas's who kissed her knuckles. Nathan smiled it was nice to see his older brother so affectionate, he'd never seen that side of Lucas before, however most of his time back then as it was now was spent with Haley.

"It wasn't until couple of months after; you and Nate left that Jake came out with he fact he had a daughter. Jenny, she was only a few months old at the time. I loved both of them so much and I still do Jake will always mean so much to me. But Jenny's mother came back wanting Jenny, and Jake had to leave. He actually lives in Savannah. We ah well we- Peyton looked over at Lucas who bit his lip.

"Lucas Eugene Scott what is your problem seriously?! First you and Brooke did that to Peyton. Then you and Peyton to Brooke, is she still even talking to you?" Haley asked. Lucas sighed of course Haley would figure it out without either of them saying a word that was just Haley. It was one of the more annoying qualities their best friend possessed. He didn't know how Nathan put up with her all the time, but then again Lucas could never really remember a time where Haley had used this freakishly annoying talent of hers on her husband; she used to use it on the rest of them all the time, but Nathan not so much, Lucas didn't know if that was saying something about Nathan or the rest of them, but it was saying something, he just wasn't sure what that was.

"Yes she does, she didn't at first, but she got over it which is why I know she will get over whatever stupid anger she still holds onto with you two," said Peyton. The conversation flowed on from that, from how Lucas proposed to the wedding then onto how Quinn and Clay met. It wasn't till Jamie came over that they realized how long they had been talking. It was Peyton who first noticed him. She pointed to him and smiled as Haley pulled him into a hug.

"Mama" he said wiping his cheek where Haley had kissed him a couple of times leaving smudge marks where her lipstick had left kisses.

"Jamie, want me to show you how to get that off? Your grandma does it me all the time" asked Lucas Jamie thought about it for a minute before nodding.

"Can you and grandpa play basket ball with me and aunt Lilly after" said Jamie Lucas laughed and nodded.

"I'm sure if you asked your grandpa he would, but first lets save your cheek" said Lucas heading inside with his nephew.

"So what will it be grandpa?" Karen asked knowing that Keith would still be shocked that he now officially had that title; sure they had known for about a week but hearing it come from Jamie was something else entirely.

"Looks like I'm playing basketball" said Keith getting up and placing a kiss on top of Karen's head as he walked into the house to find his son and grandson with his daughter hot on his heels.

* * *

After everything had been cleared and plates had been washed off and placed in the dishwasher. The rest of the adults walked out the front where the basketball hoop was. Haley smiled and wrapped her arms around Nathan as she saw Keith pick up Jamie so he could dunk the basketball into the hoop.

"Really dad, he can shoot a ball into a ten foot hoop and he obviously got Haley's height gene, did you really need to do that?" Lucas asked his arm resting on Lilly's shoulder. Keith laughed and let Jamie down who ran over to Haley.

"Mama, did you see, grandpa and I won." he said Haley smiled and ruffled his hair.

"I did baby, looks like Uncle Lucas isn't going to win a Scott game anytime soon. However I think it's time that someone got out of these grass stain clothes before those stain become impossible to get out." she said quickly grabbing him around the waist and holding him under one arm.

"Come on Lil I should have something that will fit you, save your mother killing me later for the same reason." she said Lilly gave the basketball she was holding to Lucas shoving it a little too hard to ran after Haley.

"Gezz Lil anyone would have thought Nathan taught you to throw" he said the rest of them laughed as Nathan scoffed and rolled his eyes. Lucas looked over to his little brother and raised an eyebrow.

"Who was the one who left for seven years?" he asked Karen gasped wanting to slap her son they all knew the truth and she thought it was way too early to make jokes.

"Ok one Lilly could throw a ball at three and I seem to remember being the one who spent all day teaching her how to aim, and getting hit in nads for my efforts. Two do you think it wise to joke with mum right near you? And three dude you are so glad Haley didn't hear you" said Nathan grabbing the ball off his brother dribbling it a couple of times then making a free throw.

"I can't play professionally anymore because of my back but I can still kick your ass old man" said Nathan Lucas chuckled before telling him to back up to where Quinn was then make the shot from there. Smirking Nathan dribbled the ball a couple of times then threw it.

"Nothing but net, sorry Luke, I'm going to see how Hales is going" he said before walking inside leaving Lucas to face the wrath of his mother who had started over towards him.  
He flinched as Karen grabbed him by the ear it didn't pass him that Quinn, Clay, Lydia and even his own father and wife made a quick get away into the house before they too were caught up in the wrath of Karen Scott, and her eldest sons somewhat tasteless jab at his little brother. Karen and Lucas walked into the family room that was just off the kitchen, a few minutes later.

"I hear you're getting in trouble again Luke, glad to see something's never change" said Haley from the kitchen were she was helping Jamie and Lilly make hot fudge Banana splits.  
He raised an eyebrow then poked his tongue at her.

As the sun started to set, even though no one wanted to leave, they all knew that, they couldn't prolong the inevitable, Karen wanted to have a chat with her daughter having found, her med's in Lilly's pocket, she had been wondering how her meds had found a way to sitting on the side of her plate at lunch. Lydia, knew at some point Taylor would be heading back home from her trip down south, and that she would make it via Tree Hill so she could stop there for the night. She also knew her daughter would not be impressed if she wasn't there when she arrived. As it hit quarter past seven, the only two people left were Peyton and Lucas. Quinn and Clay had, left a while ago both wanting to get of their also grass stained clothes and have showers.  
Haley and Peyton walked into the living room talking an arm wrapped around each other, it was then that they saw Jamie fast sleep on the couch, one arm and leg hanging over the side. Haley smiled and walked around picking him up, and resting his head on her shoulder.

"Someone had a big day" said Peyton Haley laughed and nodded her left hand rubbing concentric circles on his back to keep him from waking up, she'd let him sleep in his day clothes, save waking him up to get him into pyjamas.

"I'm just going to put him down," she said as Nathan and Lucas walked inside.

"Love you Jim Jam," Nathan said as Haley started walking towards the stairs.

"Love you to daddy," came the quiet whisper from the exhausted five year old. As Haley made her way up stairs Nathan started to unload the dishwasher and started putting things away.

"Being a mum suites her" said Peyton now out of her trance of watching her friend look after her sleeping little boy. Nathan smiled and nodded.

"I won't lie the first couple of years were hard. Especially with Dan following us, every house, every town we lived in. He found us. When we were in college he came to one of my training sessions. He threatened Jamie. I don't think my coach had ever seen me so mad. It took me ages to calm down and that was with Haley by my side." Lucas nodded he had seen what his uncle was capable of but he had never really believed it till now. There would be a day that Dan Scott would get what was coming to him and Lucas really hopped he was there to watch it. Getting up as Haley came back down, he walked over and gave her a hug.

"This was fun; we should to it more often but just us Scott kids no parentals or in laws." Haley nodded and kissed his cheek before walking over and giving Peyton a hug.

"Glad your back foxy," Haley laughed she missed all the nick names that Peyton used to give her.

"Glad to be back, now all I have to do is face the monster" said Haley she wasn't looking forward to Brooke at all. Peyton sighed and nodded both women knew just how hard that one was going to be as close as Haley was to the rest of them, Brooke and Haley had been inseparable, and they used to tell each other everything so, Haley not telling her this, and staying away for so long; even though she did it to spare her friends and family, the wrath that she and Nathan had gone through with Dan wasn't going to be easy to explain. Especially to someone who had the nickname of Brookie monster.

After Lucas and Peyton left, Haley flopped on the lounge and rested her head into the crook of Nathans arm as he sat down. She was just as exhausted as Jamie but knew she'd never get to sleep this early.

"Today was a good day, I'm glad we came back Hales" said Nathan Haley snuggled into him more and looked up at him.

"I'm glad we came back too, did you see Jamie with your dad? Nathan no matter what happens with Dan no matter what he tries to do; moving back here was worth it, if only to see our son play a game he and his daddy love with his grandfather. I wish dad were alive he'd love Jamie.." she said thinking about her dad always bought a tear to her eye.

"I know angel and Dan will get what's coming don't you worry about that." he said tilting her chin and kissing her softly.

"I know"

* * *

Mean while across town, Karen was wondering just how did she, let her daughter know that she didn't have to worry about her any more. That she was free to be a kid again, and that she should have always been a kid and what she had gone through and what she has seen her mother go through over the last seven years wasn't fair on her. Knocking on Lilly's bedroom door she opened it slightly to see her daughter lying on her bed, homework spread out in front of her. "Lil- "I know mum, I should have let you decide but I didn't want you to slip. I just wanted you to be you, the old you for a day. I know Haley and Nathan would have been able to handle it, but I didn't want Jamie seeing that. I wanted him to see the grandma I know you will be not the person you were" Karen sat down on her daughters bed and sighed, yes her daughter was wise beyond her years. "Lil, I know you were worried about that and I know that we all have a lot of healing to do, but you don't have to watch out for me anymore. I have your dad for that, and if need be I have Lucas, but you are my little girl, and you shouldn't have to worry about me. I know I haven't shown you that much in the last few years, and I'm sorry about that honey really I am" "It's not your fault mum. Its Uncle Dan's fault, he started it he killed Haley's dad, she didn't tell me everything but she said that he did something that made them leave, and well them leaving made you go kinda crazy. It also hurt a lot of people but it was all Uncle Dan he was the catalyst. I don't have to call him Uncle anymore do I? You and Dad always said it was a sign of respect but I don't respect him so..." Karen smiled and pulled Lilly into a hug her daughter was just like Lucas that this age. She however had a lot of Nathan in her too, she was the perfect mix of her brothers and Karen wasn't even sure if Lilly knew that. Today had shown Karen just how much her daughter had missed having her older brother in her life. As much as he had tried to be there for his baby sister, Lucas still saw Lilly as just that his baby sister. He had never really spent that much time with her when she was little, it had always been Nathan and Haley. So when they left, Karen now could see that just like the rest of them, there had been a massive hole made in her then young daughter's life. As Nathan had pointed out he had taught his baby sister a lot of things, not only to throw a ball, but he taught her to hi-five, how to do thumbs up so many things that were so small in comparison, to everything else Lilly would learn in her life. Yet not having her big brother there to show her all those things, to have to learn them the way that only children learnt them, left Lilly Scott looking for reasons her four year old mind was too young to understand.

"No honey you don't have to call him Uncle if you don't want to, but I want you to understand one thing, if he tries to do anything to you anything at all when you are out with Jamie, and you cannot get to Nathan, Haley or whomever you two are with I want you to run. Either to the Cafe or to Brooke's store ok. Run and don't look back because your uncle will stop at nothing to hurt your brother and Haley now they are back in town and telling everyone what he did. I don't want to keep you away from Nathan, you both deserve to know each other and to spend time together. But I want you to stay safe, I do not want anything to happen to you. So please if you see Dan and cannot get to someone you trust run." Said Karen Lilly nodded and smiled as her mother kissed the top of her head and got up leaving her to get back to her homework ready for Monday.


End file.
